Counting Days
by SMNeff
Summary: Hey Guys! this is my first Fanfic and the first Chapter of it! It's based off of WW2 and a war between Humans and Mammals has erupted. Humans wann erase the evolved Mammals off of the earths surface. there are a lot of battles and a lot of losses just like in real WW2. I hope you like it but you should be careful if you don't like death and gore too much. Enjoy reading!
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

* * *

Hello guys! My name is SMNeff and the following Fanfic is the first story I've ever written so please give me some constructional criticism to help me improve and make it more enjoyable for all of us. Through me getting better at writing it will be more fun for me to write and it will be more enjoyable for you to read.

Also please be patient with me, since it takes some time to improve and enhance, nobody was born perfect nor will anyone ever be perfect, just close to it.

I recommend skipping all the profiles I made and start to read chapter 1, which is named 'The arrival'. I suggest to read the profiles when the respective character gets his first appearance in the story, that way you will get to know them a bit and can imagine them and their personality a bit better.

Have fun reading and enjoy your stay if you decide to do so!  
Peace out!

(Also I don't own Zootopia or any characters of Disney. I merely own the characters that I invented for the purpose of this story.)


	2. Nick's Profile

**Profile – Nick**

Species: Red Fox

First Name: Nicholas

Middle Name: Piberius

Last Name: Wilde

Fur colour: Red / Cream

Eye colour: Intense Light green

Height: 1.22 meters (c.a. 4 foot)

Age: 24 (I know, in the movie it's 32 but I wanted to reduce the age gap between him and Judy)

Personality:

A Sly, calm and mostly relaxed fox but he's able to turn very angry and violent at given chance of any of his important ones getting hurt / threatened.

Background:

Being born into a Family with one brother and a father, which ran away when Nick was 9 he learned to grow up in a rough manner. He had to make earnings through hustling people and saved those earning up to later go to college. He managed to pay it but cancelled his studying when he found out that his brother, which went to war, was missing. He told himself that he'll find him, no matter if dead or alive. To make things worse he had to find out that his mother was killed in a Human attack shortly before getting evacuated from the danger zone. This tragic happening made him a determined fighter for the right thing.


	3. Judy's Profile

**Profile – Judy**

Species: Bunny

First Name: Judith

Middle Name: Laverne

Last Name: Hopps

Fur colour: Gray/ White/ Black

Eye colour: Violet (Purple)

Height: unknown (I myself imagine her around about 0.75 meters [c.a. 2'5"])

Age: 20 (I know in the movie it's 24 but I wanted to reduce her age a bit since it's war and the young ones mostly are bound to do wild things)

Personality:

An energetic and active fluff ball that is always ready to help either her family or other mammals in need.

Background:

Born into the big Rabbit family Hopps she was born into a farm life which made her durable and enduring in physical work. She enjoyed mediocre education but nonetheless is a clever Rabbit. She later finds out that war has broken out and that the military needs all the food they can produce. This fact made her and her family work extra hard.


	4. Nazim's Profile

**Profile – Chainbreaker**

Species: Gray Wolf

First Name: Nazim

Middle Name: Niklas

Last Name: Sahfarha

Fur colour: Gray, Dark Gray, Black

Eye colour: Brown

Height: 1.63 meters (c.a 5' 4")

Age: 20

Personality:

Is a typical Wolf so he gets into a lot of dogfights and has several scratches and scars all over his body. His left eye is covered by an eyepatch as he lost it in a fight. He is a tough and strong fighter that is able to ignore pain as long as in a fight to a certain degree. His Nemesis is Oberkommandant Neff as he lost most of his Soldiers to him and also his Father and Brother.

Background:

Was living a normal Life before the war as a Car mechanic. Living on the outskirts of Sahara Square in Zootopia. He joined war because he wanted to protect his Home and all the innocent people of Zootopia. He was one of the best Soldiers in the Academy and almost instantly got promoted to Squadron Leader / Corpse Commander.


	5. Tristan's Profile

**Profile – Tristan**

Species: Raccoon

First Name: Tristan

Middle Name: Justin

Last Name: Clarkson

Fur colour: Gray / Brown / Black / White

Eye colour: Black

Height: 1 meter (3'3")

Age: 27

Personality:

A rather shy mammal which holds himself back in most conversations although when he joins in he mostly notes vital stuff that others missed out on.

Background:

Not really much is known about his past only that he lost his mother in a tragic happening. His Father had to take care of him and his sibling alone and as Tristan got older he learned to appreciate it all the more. He says he wants to make his father proud of him through serving in war and doing what so many don't dare: Fight the Humans directly.


	6. Finnick's Profile

**Profile – Finnick**

Species: Fennec fox

First Name: Finnick

Middle Name: -

Last Name: unknown

Fur colour: Tan / Cream

Eye colour: Brown

Height: 0.60 meters (2'0")

Age: 32

Personality:

A grumpy little Fox but he knows how to be a badass and is quite tough in taking and giving.

Background:

Born in Sahara square of Zootopia he enjoyed average education being the son of a mediocre wealthy family. Later in life due to be made fun of because of his body stature he had to live from being a con artist. Military was his savior as war broke out.


	7. Goliath's Profile

**Profile – Goliath**

Species: Red Fox

First Name: Jamie

Middle Name: Sander

Last Name: Gunner

Fur colour: Red/ Brownish-red / Cream

Eye colour: Yellow fading into Green

Height: 1.55 (5'1") [freaking huge for a red fox]

Age: 25

Personality:

A calm and patient mammal that is a born warrior through his tactical knowledge and determination. He is extremely tough and can take a lot of pain before even showing it in his style of fighting.

Background:

He was born into a wealthy family on the outskirts of Zootopia city. He always liked to play with other foxes. He always was the tallest one by towering over everyone in his classes by at least 3 inches. He enjoyed an above average education. He isn't extremely smart but has a really good understanding of Tactics and reversed psychology.


	8. Apollo's Profile

**Profile – Apollo**

Species: Arctic Fox

First Name: Sam

Middle Name: Kevin

Last Name: Hartmann

Fur colour: White / white that slightly shines blue

Eye colour: shining Light blue

Height: 1.12 (3'8")

Age: 22

Personality:

Mostly energetic and excited although he is able to suppress it when on an important mission. He can also perfectly imitate all sorts of other personalities.

Background:

He was born in a small village near the outskirts of Tundratown district of Zootopia. He has 1 older and 1 younger brother as well as a younger sister. He already has a wife and is expecting 2 twin kits with her. His family wasn't really wealthy but was able to give him a good education and a good childhood with simple ways of entertainment.


	9. Zack's Profile

**Profile – Zack**

Species: Arctic Wolf

First Name: Zack

Middle Name: Vasyli

Last Name: Kozlov

Fur colour: White / Light gray

Eye colour: Brown

Height: 1.65 meter (5'5")

Age: 19

Personality:

A mammal that is often giving his best but is also sarcastic about pretty much everything. He later becomes a good friend of Nick

Background:

He grew up in Tundratown of Zootopia and his family was in a close and good relationship with Mr. Big , therefore he had a really good childhood with no enemies at all. He enjoyed high luxury as the son of an immensely rich family. He had excellent education and excellent grades and a extremely high quality childhood.


	10. Crash's Profile

**Profile – Crash**

Species: Red Fox

First Name: Crash

Middle Name: Oliver

Last Name: Newman

Fur colour: Red/ Brownish-red / Cream

Eye colour: Brown

Height: 1.15 meters (c.a. 3' 9")

Age: 26

Personality:

A shy and nervous guy which panics quickly. He has to get sued to war first before turning into a really good and loyal soldier.

Background:

Being the son of a tailor and a lawyer he had an excellent education and would currently work as a teacher had he not went to war. History amazes him as well as geography. He always had a lot of friends and was on good terms with almost everyone. Though being a fox he was well trusted among his friends. Some even went as far as trusting him with his life and calling him their best friend.


	11. Doc Niklasson's Profile

**Profile – Doctor Niklasson**

Species: Golden Retriever

First Name: you'll find out when you read the story

Middle Name: -

Last Name: Niklasson

Fur colour: Blonde with a twist of Golden and some Gray

Eye colour: Dark Brown

Height: 1.56 (c.a 5' 1")

Age: 47

Personality:

A very Humorous, brave, experienced, clever and wise Retriever. He already lived most of his Life and happily thinks back into the days of his own youth whenever he sees all the young soldiers on the field.

Background:

With a Loving Wife and 5 already grown up Pups he is a successful Medic on the field. He joined the Army after he had studied Medicine and first aid in the University of Zootopia. Originally he wanted to become a Hospital's Doctor but that changed when he saw what happens to Mammals in war. He became a very respected field medic and later was declared the head master of the medics in Ironmood's battle. His experience on the fields wasn't that big as he only rarely had to defend himself but he had some nonetheless.


	12. Oberkommandant Neff's Profile

**Profile – Oberkommandant Neff**

Species: Human

First Name: Fabio

Middle Name: -

Last Name: Neff

Hair colour: Dark brown

Eye colour: Dark Brown

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.92 meters (c.a 6' 4")

Age: 25

Personality:

A young Man who knows a lot of tricks and knows a lot about War and Strategies. In his youth he enjoyed a good education and liked to play with his brothers a lot. Later on he came to dislike Furs, that dislike later transforming into hate since a lot of Furs migrated to Human cities to live off of the Government without working. He joined the Army with the age of 22, as soon as the war broke out, and got a high reputation really quickly as he came into the position of Charge not through a promotion but through killing the Officer that was in charge before. He proofed himself as very worthy of the post and was allowed to keep it.

Background:

He joined the Army with the age of 22, as soon as the war broke out, and got a high reputation really quickly as he came into the position of Charge not through a promotion but through killing the Officer that was in charge before. He proofed himself as very worthy of the post and was allowed to keep it. Later in war he was moved to Ironmood, a great city known for it's attraction. As He had way less soldiers than the Furs did and he wasn't able to occupy the city because of it. It rather was the other way around, the Furs had reinforced way more than expected in Ironmood and Oberkommandant Neff had to hold them off being outnumbered 10 to 1. He was able to hold Ironmood for 2 years up to now.


	13. Michael's Profile

**Profile – Michael**

Species: Human

First Name: Michael

Middle Name: Franz

Last Name: Neff

Hair colour: Brown

Eye colour: Yellow-green with gray

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.82 (c.a 6'foot)

Age: 20

Personality:

Born into a wealthy Family in a great city he enjoyed good education and a high quality childhood He joined the Army because of his older brother, with his younger brother following suit. He is a very sneaky but giddy person that likes to pull a friend's leg at every option possible.

Background:

He joined the war because his older brother did so, although he was excited to fight on open fields he was moved into an Elite unit because of his stealthy and sneaky personality. He was one of the most successful fighters behind enemy lines recorded by Humans.


	14. Sebastian's Profile

**Profile – Sebastian**

Species: Human

First Name: Sebastian

Middle Name: Markus

Last Name: Neff

Hair colour: Dark Brown

Eye colour: Velvet Brown

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.90 (c.a 6' 3")

Age: 16

Personality:

Born into a wealthy Family in a great city he enjoyed good education and a high quality childhood. As a young child he was very energetic. That faded with age as he became more calm and got fascinated by other cultures. He wanted to learn as many languages and as much about new cultures as possible.

Background:

He joined the war because his brothers did so, although he was excited to meet with some new cultures as well from the lands he'd have to travel. His idealistic personality has its roots in the head of his brother, Fabio. Fabio planted his hatred and disgust of furs into Sebastian's head where it slowly grew into a big, steady tree because of all the losses he made through the war with the furs.


	15. Skullcracker's Profile

**Profile – Skullcracker**

Species: Human

First Name: Jordan

Middle Name: Dwayne

Last Name: Picker

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Dark Brown

Skin colour: Black

Height: 1.81 (c.a 5' 11")

Age: 26

Personality:

A young man who likes to think of himself as the best sniper in Human history so far. He is Arrogant but also wise and knows when to stop provoking others. He also knows which kind of people he needs to befriend to optimize his chances of survival in war.

Background:

He joined the Army because he always liked shooting stuff over a long distance. His talent was obvious and quickly acknowledged by his superiors and he got moved into a sniper battalion very 212 confirmed kills after 6 months of serving on the outskirts of Ironmood he indeed was one of the more successful snipers on the Human side.


	16. Phantom's Profile

**Profile – Phantom**

Species: Human

First Name: Brian

Middle Name: Vasyli

Last Name: Runner

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Brown

Skin colour: Black

Height: 1.79 (c.a 5' 10")

Age: 38

Personality:

A man who knows what he has to deliver to be respected but in return wants to get the same amount of work from others to earn his respect. He is clever and patient and keeps a calm head in heated situation much for the liking of his squad members.

Background:

He joined the Army because he always dreamt of serving for the State and Government. He is a very experienced soldier and always knows what to do. He lived a simple and calm life with his mother and father and 2 brothers in a small house close to a big city where he enjoyed average education.


	17. Marco's Profile

**Profile – Marco**

Species: Human

First Name: Marco

Middle Name: -

Last Name: Karpf

Hair colour: Blonde

Eye colour: Mixture of blue and green

Skin colour: white

Height: 1.86 (c.a 6' 1")

Age: 21

Personality:

A very calm, friendly and neat person who likes to help everyone. He would never harm anything or anyone. The reason he joined the Army was so called 'Justification' for his consuming of Marijuana and Alcohol.

Background:

The reason he joined the Army was so called 'Justification' for his consuming of Marijuana and Alcohol. He hates war and only kills if he would die for sure if he didn't kill himself. He tries to help anyone that is wounded no matter if Human or Mammal. He just wants it all to be over and done with as quick as possible. He isn't a coward but he still hates war.


	18. Hawkeye's Profile

**Profile – Hawkeye**

Species: Human

First Name: unknown

Middle Name: unknown

Last Name: unknown

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Amber

Skin colour: Tan

Height: 1.74 (c.a 6'foot)

Age: unknown

Personality:

Actually nobody really knows Hawkeye that good, not even Soldiers that work with him. All they know is that he can swing form one mood to another really quickly, although form happy to angry way quicker than the other way around. He also gets provoked quite easily and he's not to be messed around with, even though he is rather small.

Background:

Nobody knows his Background. He says the only reason he joined the Army was to make a living from it. He is an extremely talented sniper though.


	19. Harry's Profile

**Profile – Harry**

Species: Human

First Name: Harry

Middle Name: James

Last Name: Miller

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: green

Skin colour: white

Height: 1.60 (c.a 6' 3")

Age: 21

Personality:

He likes to make some jokes here and there but otherwise is mostly silent. He also likes to fantasize about being a wizard and fighting a so called 'Dark Lord' and visiting a Magical school called 'Pigwarts'. He also used to regularly consume a lot of Alcohol.

Background:

He joined the Army to become a real man and to get some discipline although he often was made fun of because of his body size he became a good sniper and eventually the spotter of an extreme talent called 'Hawkeye'.


	20. JJ's Profile

**Profile – 'JJ'**

Species: Human

First Name: Jack

Middle Name: Gustav

Last Name: Johansson

Hair colour: Light Blonde

Eye colour: Light Blue

Skin colour: Pale/ very White

Height: 1.88 meters (c.a 6' 2")

Age: 25

Personality:

A rather sarcastic guy who likes to joke around and provoke others. He has a lot experience in fighting and uses that advantage a lot in battle through forcing the enemy into a close/ unarmed combat situation. He likes to do silent kills and gets really aggressive around the front.

Background:

Being born in a cold region he doesn't have much problems with the coldness of war, much rather the heat of it. His childhood was a happy one with a caring and loving family of 2 Brothers, 3 sisters and his Parents. Jack always was fascinated of history and often thought about being a Soldier of ancient armies and fighting for what was right and what his people needed. His dream came true when war broke out between Furs and Humans. He was one of the first to join the army with the age of 24. He got stationed in an easy job first, however as pressure grew larger in Ironmood he was moved to the so called 'Death front'. Since he was there he made himself a good few kills and is in one of Two Elite squads the Humans have in Ironmood.


	21. Chester's Profile

**Profile – Chester**

Species: Human

First Name: Chester

Middle Name: Charles

Last Name: Fennington

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Dark Brown

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.78 meters (c.a 5' 10")

Age: 32

Personality:

Likes to sing a lot and has a characteristic, rather high pitched voice when singing. He is a friendly guy who likes to help others.

Background:

Being born into an abusing family he learned to appreciate the value of a good friendship really young. He had quite a few friends who always held to him, and that much better than his Family. He joined the army to be together with his friends and got moved into and Elite corps after almost all Soldiers in his Battalion he was in, including all his Friends, got killed in a huge battle for a Farm village. He was very successful in this one battle with over 10 confirmed kills and saving the life of a fellow Soldiers. Out of the 500 Human Soldiers in this battle he was one of 47 to make it out alive thanks to Tanks coming to their help.


	22. Ramtin's Profile

**Profile - Ramtin**

Species: Human

First Name: Ramtin

Middle Name: Michael

Last Name: Samimi

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Black / very dark brown

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.80 meters (c.a 6 Foot)

Age: 17

Personality:

Likes candy a lot especially Chocolate, often trades his other food for the chocolate of his fellow soldiers. Also likes to make new Friends. If anyone close to him dies he tries to get revenge no matter the circumstances.

Background:

Being born in a poor region He never had the luxury of really high education though his intelligence balanced that fact out. Later in life as the war broke out he saw an option to bring honour to his family and become a wealthy and well known Soldier so he volunteered with the age of 16 and got sent to the front at the age of barely 17.


	23. Aleksey's Profile

**Profile – Aleksey**

Species: Human

First Name: Aleksey

Middle Name: Vladimir

Last Name: Beljajew

Hair colour: Dark Blonde

Eye colour: Intense Dark Blue

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.82 (c.a 6 foot)

Age: 28

Personality:

Born with his Twin in a Forest region that gets hot during summer and very cold during winter he isn't sensitive with temperature. He loves his twin brother, Aleksander, a lot and as a child always played with him. He is a happy, calm and very clever person. He always liked to eat that yellow snow as a child though.

Background:

Joining the Army with the age of 18, before war broke out, out of fascination for airplanes and flying. By the time war breaks out he and his twin brother are pretty the best pilots to have ever existed among Human and Mammal lines. They were extremely well known even among Mammals and that made it tough for them during war since everyone wanted to be the one bringing their General one of the two most wanted name tags ever.


	24. Aleksander's Profile

**Profile – Aleksander**

Species: Human

First Name: Aleksander

Middle Name: Vadim

Last Name: Beljajew

Hair colour: Dark Blonde

Eye colour: Intense Dark Blue

Skin colour: White

Height: 1.82 (c.a 6 foot)

Age: 28

Personality:

Born with his Twin in a Forest region that gets hot during summer and very cold during winter he isn't sensitive with temperature either. He loves his twin brother, Aleksey, a lot and as a child always played with him. He is a happy, energetic and rather clever person. He always liked to pee in the snow as a child.

Background:

Joining the Army with the age of 18, before war broke out, out of fascination for airplanes and flying and also to stay close to his brother. By the time war breaks out he and his twin brother are pretty much the best pilots to have ever existed among Human and Mammal lines. They were extremely well known even among Mammals and that made it tough for them during war since everyone wanted to be the one bringing their General one of the two most wanted name tags ever.


	25. The Arrival

Author's Note:  
Hey Guys my name's SMNeff. This is the first chapter of my first fanfiction ever. This fanfic is about World War 2 as I wanted to give people an insight of how the Zootopia's characters would interact and develop in war. Nazis are represented by Humans and the Allies are represented by the Mammals of Zootopia so this is a war between Humans and Developed Mammals. Also, I like Zootopia a lot and just wanted to get my own version of it out there! Thanks for your time and enjoy reading!

* * *

*Ironmood Mammal occupied side, Train station*

It's really hot and the train was rumbling a lot. As Crash opened his eyes he'd noticed that there were many Mammals in military uniforms standing and sitting around him. Then he'd remembered that he'd volunteered for the army and this was the train transporting enlisted soldiers and volunteer recruits to the front.

Why he had joined the military? Boredom, nothing better to do at home. He didn't really have a motivation, he thought to himself.

As Crash finally looked straight ahead he noticed that there was another Fox. He looked at the sleeping Fox for quite some time and after a few minutes he opened his eyes, dead staring into the Crash's eyes with an emotionless expression with cold, hard eyes.

The mammal's eyes were a bright green, almost blinding in the dark train wagon. After a few seconds Crash took a pack of chewing gum out of his vest's shoulder pocket and asked the other Fox if he wanted one. The other Fox took a piece and asked Crash his name.

"It's Crash, your's?"

The other Fox stared for a while.

"Nick. To be precise Nicholas Piberius Wilde," he said and pointed to a sleeping Fennec Fox in the bunk beneath him. "And that's Finnick, my childhood buddy. He's maybe smaller than us, but in no way less tough I tell you!"

Crash and Nick started some small talk.

"So, how did you end up in here, Nick?"

"Well I just ended basic training so my superior thought he'd send me to the most dangerous front he can find. Even though I barely have any experience. I only survived the first 4 weeks here due to an experienced guy that even let his life for me."

"And, umm... what're your thoughts about this war?"

"What are my thou-? What the fuck! Do you even hear yourself? It's a damn war! It's shit! We have to risk our lifes on a daily basis just to prove that we're worth of existing."

"Yeah, uh well- I'll admit that was a weird question. Anyway my thoughts are practically the same thing. So... how old are you?

"Why do you care? Why should I even tell you?"

"Well... to form a bond between us?"

"That is able without you knowing my name, besides why should I want to form a bond with you? I mean, sure you seem like a nice guy but what if you die? Then I'll just be distracted about your death and that improves the chances of my death again."

Crash thought to himself 'Man that guy seems...odd. Like something has to be off with him. I mean, who the hell acts like that? Although, when I think about it now, it does seem clever. If you never form a bond to someone you don't really care about them living or dying.'

Crash gave Nick a shocked but all the same impressed look.

"Well that's kinda clever, but won't it be boring without a friend on the front?"

"Well I do have a friend right here next to me if you remember."

"And, umm you have any family?"

"Why do you keep asking me about my personal stuff and past? Just leave it be already."

"Alright, alright. But what about your parents? Won't they be sad if they lose their son in this war?"

Nick answered with a smug grin.

"What parents? The father that left me and mother alone, or the mother that recently died in an attack by the Humans?"

Crash's eyes bulged out.

"Y-you don't have any Family left? That's really harsh man!"

Nick then noticed that his tongue had slipped. 'Well now that it's out I can tell him, I guess. Won't matter anyways. This guy seems like he'll die after the first 10 minutes of war anyway.'

"Well, it's not that harsh if you don't think about it that much and war is a perfect option for that, actually" Nick said and after a few moments he spoke up again. "So. What do you think about your first introduction to war?"

"Well, Nick, you see I'm really nervous, but also a bit excited I guess. Even though we could get killed there's just this feeling inside of me that makes me feel more alive than I've ever felt before. And to be honest I'm kinda worried about my little brother and sister to be honest."

"Why the hell are you worried about them man? You're out here protecting them right now! And I don't think we'll have any losses. I mean the General himself told us that all we'd have to do was unload our bullets into the Human's heads as they are pleading for mercy on all fours. All the soldiers that arrived here before have added quite a bit of pressure to the Humans here."

Crash thought for a moment. 'Hmm. Seems like he's quite confident about this. But it's really noisy for only a few easy kills.'

"But that's a lot of gunshots and explosions for such an easy mission, I mean listen to it carefully! So many shots and grenades can't be used on those few Humans!"

"Oh man rookie, are you a chicken or what? The General wouldn't dare lie to that many soldiers in his own battalion now, would he?"

The train came to a stop and the car's giant sliding door opened and Nick and Crash stood first at its side. The view they had was gut-crushing to say the least. Everything was muddy and dead trees were everywhere. The once great city called "Ironmood" was only ruins and there were dead bodies everywhere. Mostly of them Humans thankfully, but also a lot of mammals and it also reeked horribly, like rotten flesh and also something very, very disgusting they couldn't identify. It made their stomachs turn and their morale sunk instantly at this sight. As Nick and Crash jumped out of the train one of the soldiers next to them fell on his face. Nick couldn't help but blurt out with laughter.

"You okay, man? Lemme help you up, eh?" Nick asked as he stretched out his hand towards the soldier on the ground, but shortly after a puddle of blood formed beneath the Mammals' face and Nick's grin suddenly vanished.

"Oh shit man, Nick that ain't good! So much about not having any losses! Dude, I'm scared!"

"Calm yourself for the love of God! That guy," Nick said, pointing at the corpse beneath him, "was really unlucky, get it? You and neither I will die on this puny first little mission, you hear me? All we'll do here is paint the walls and ground red with Human brain matter, okay?"

Crash calmed down a bit.

"O-o-o-oka-okay."

Nick and Crash started their journey to the front from the train station. It was a curley road paved with cobblestone. Here and there were a few craters in it because of bombshells that have hit the road. Beneath the road also were some dead bodies and a few destroyed military vehicles, like jeeps and simple transporting carts that were supposed to deliver some food or medicine. Also there were some soldiers digging trenches to probably hide the corpses in them, because, to be honest, it was quite demoralizing if the first thing you saw were dead fellow soldiers. After they had walked about half the road they reached the top of a hill and to their feet they saw the battlefield. Ruins everywhere and in the distance they saw some explosions happening and some Soldiers running for a break to try and get cover or simply just to throw some grenades to weaken the enemy forces. Nick halted and held out a hand in front of Crash to force him to a stop as well.

Nick turned to Crash and looked him in the eyes with a serious and slightly worried gaze.

"Alright listenb here, rookie. Since I feel sympathetic towards you I'll give you some easy first hints to increase your chance of survival on the battlefield. Keep changing your speed, that'll make it harder for enemies to hit you, also remember to not walk straight lines, otherwise you're food for enemy snipers, count your rounds, really. If you want to shoot someone and then notice that you're out of ammo... it's really not a pleasent surprise. Trust me I've been in war before for 4 weeks."

"Okay! Thanks for the hints, man! Really appreciate it," Crash answered and kept walking with different speeds until something inside his boot poked him in the foot. "Ouch! Damn it! How the hell did that thing get into my boot?"

He stood still to take off his boot. As he stood there some other soldiers, that have arrived new just like him walked past him. They didn't care where they walked just as long as there was some cover at their final destination. Suddenly something punched him in the shoulder really close to his armpit. Crash looked down and saw a bullet hole and blood oozing out of it. Nick noticed just now that Crash wasn't next to him anymore, came to a stop and looked back to see a screaming Crash.

"OH SHIT MAN I JUST GOT SHOT! I'M GONNA DIE! YOU'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE HERE! AAHH! Wait a minute… it doesn't even hurt that much!"

Quite a few soldiers gave Crash a freaked out or simply annoyed look for his screaming.

Nick shook his head and tried to talk to him with a calm voice to comfort him.

"That's called adrenaline, my boy and it eases pain and makes you more durable easy said. Now get over here take cover and shoot any Humans you see, okay? I'll call a medic over here in the mean time."

Crash got some cover behind a jeep that was next to the road and just waited there. He followed Nick with his eyes as he sprinted away to the left, away from the front and into the direction of the city's center.

* * *

End of chapter 1

(I hope you enjoyed chapter one and will return to this story. Please don't forget to drop a quick review to help me improve and make future chapters and stories more enjoyable. Thanks for reading!)


	26. A Human's view

***Meanwhile on the Human occupied side of the city ‚'Ironmood''***

Hiding in some bushes that somehow were still green and alive was hiding a really talented sniper with his spotter. The Sniper was known as ''Hawkeye'' and only had one other nickname he got called by his spotter, since no one knew his real name.

The spotter's name was Harry and therefor he had the Nickname ''Harry Spotter'' since he almost made it seem like magic how he spotted those damned Furs.

Harry sometimes called Hawkeye ''Severus Snaper'' since his shots simply had to be dark magic. Harry would never forget how Hawkeye once hit a Fur right in the eye from a distance of 300 meters(330 yards) or even more.

Harry was looking through the city's ruins as he spotted something very interesting. ''Hey, there's a giant smoke cloud coming towards the city center. Probably a train with new recruits. Wanna shoot some of them to demoralize 'em right from the beginning, huh?''

''Well sure'' Hawkeye responded with a deep and cold voice. ''I love killing young ''innocent'' idiots that get sent to the front as cannonfodder. Just tell me where to aim.''

After about five minutes of waiting the Train came into vision and also started slowing down. ''Just like Lambs brought to the butcher, hehe. Hey Snaper they're 'bout t'open these doors of the wagons so get your fat, lazy ass ready!''

''I'll show ya lazy you moron! Just look at these shots and you'll be amazed by my accuracy.''

''Okay the doors are open. I see two Foxes and next to them a Raccoon. Take aim. Take the shot.''

BANG

''One, two, three, hit!'' Hawkeye counted for himself. ''alright three seconds flight duration. Let's aim for the smaller fox first, he seems less scarred by war and that has to change.''

Hawkeye aimed for quite some time but had trouble as that Fox was always changing speed and stumbling around like he was really drunk.

''C'mon you shitter, stand still already! You're getting on my nerves. Oh look he's standing….''

BANG

''One, two, hit! Fuck I missed his head, only hit his shoulder''

Harry was looking through his spyglasses and was disappointed to see the Fox still standing.

''Well at least you made him scream and go crazy, heheheh''

''Yes, but I wanted to kill him you idiot, not make him scream! Although a bit of suffering isn't bad either''

Harry watched as the other Fox tried to calm down the wounded one.

''Hey Snaper you better hurry up with the second shot! He's going for some ruins to hide behind! Nevermind shoot the other Fox he's running away to the right.''

Hawkeye didn't give up on the Fox going for cover however. He wanted to complete that kill as he always did.

''Harry'' he said with a bit warmer voice this time. ''Would you be as kind and take a shot at the fox running away yourself?''

''But I have a way worse Rifle than you''

''doesn't matter. I don't want any of these Furs to get away alive. If they walk into my sight once they're done for, alright?''

Hawkeye tried to find any traces of the Fox hiding behind the ruins and didn't give up for at least two minutes.

''c'mon Foxy! All I need is an Inch of your damned head to stick out form there! C'mon I know you wanna take a look at what's happening on the Battlefield.''

Finally he noticed a helmet sticking out form behind the ruins and aimed at it.

BANG

''one, two, hit! Right into his skull haha! Even I could see his brains splattering literally EVERYWHERE'' Hawkeye said with a very giddy tone in his voice.

''By the way you got that other Fox? You know the one running to the right?''

''Nope'' Harry replied ''way too fast that little fucker. I don't know how he did that with those stubby legs but he managed to dodge two of my shots and then vanished suddenly'' Harry said with a sad and pouting voice.

''Well that's not good, Harry. You know that I hate it when some of my targets get away. Anyways check our position that is reinforced with the machinegun quickly and then we'll change location, okay?"

"got it!" Harry replied as he took a look at the little fortification their fellow soldiers had made at a bridge. "All clear! They're still firing away at those Furs."

"Alright let's change position before some enemy sniper get's us. C'mon Harry"

They both stood up carefully to not expose too much of themselves. But at once Harry's left underarm almost sort of exploded.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! FUUUCK THAT HUUUUUURTSSSSSS"

"Well of course you dumbass! Your left underarm just vanished! C'mon quickly b'fore that enemy fucker gets another sho- huugghhhhhh"

"Snaper? AW FUCK!" Harry exclaimed in surprise.

Harry was completely shocked about the fact that the best sniper he's ever known and fought with for 1 year had a bullet hole right where his heart was located.

Slowly Hawkeye's eyes rolled up into his skull and he stumbled two steps backwards before falling onto his back and rolling down the little hill they were hiding on.

As Hawkeyes Lich rolled down the hill it left a trace of blood. Harry's eyes teared up and he tried to run but to no avail as just after the first step something ripped off his left foot. He fell onto his knees and turned around to be in a lying position with his upper body leveled up to look around.

"AAGHH. PLEASE GOD NO! I don't wanna die! I'm too young! Please show mercy whoever you are!"

Harry pleaded as he stretched out his one remaining hand into the direction he assumed the enemy sniper to be at and closed his eyes, with a scared expression on his face. It only took a few seconds until his Face was mashed by a bullet and his head was relieved of it's contents.

Harry's corpse fell over onto it's side and rolled down the hill as well coming to a stop as it bumped into Hawkeye's corpse.

After about 3 Hours a Human found their corpses and identified them as the well-known Sniper Duo that was Called "Rowling's Duo" among the Human soldiers as these two snipers had won a lot of battles for the Humans here in Ironmood.

After one year of their tyranny in Ironmood they finally fell.

Two days after their death it was known among all Humans that they fell as it came in the Human Newspaper for Soldiers called "Front Reporter"

* * *

 ***Human occupied side of the city Ironmood, the Great Trench***

A Soldier in the trench was reading aloud to his fellow Soldiers:

''Nach fascht eim Jahr erbittertem kämpfe und zahlriche abschüss sind die Zwei Scharfschütze, bekannt als Falkeaug(Hawkeye) und Harry gfalle. Sie sind tapfer und im dienscht vo de grosse sach gstorbe! Sie sind als Nationalhelde verkündet worde und werdet ehreplätz ufeme Soldate Friedhof erhalte"

(After almost one year of courageous fighting and dozens of kills the two snipers, known as Hawkeye and Harry fell. They died with pride and in the service of the greater good! They were announced as National Heroes and will receive an honor grave at a Soldier Graveyard")

Among the Soldiers there was grief and sorrow and about after 2 minutes of Silence they all stood up and Saluted and yelled in unison

"Im dienscht vo de grosse sach, mit tapferkeit und muet! Ihr werdet nie vergesse werde!"

(In the service of the greater good, with bravery and courage! You will never be forgotten!")

The Soldiers got to their arms again and readied for an Attack as their Lieutenant reported to the front.

In Swiss German he spoke to them:

"Men, 3 days ago we lost great Soldiers and friends. We shall avenge their deaths by kicking the Furs out of this City and killing all in our way! No mercy, no prisoners! Everyone that can shall arm himself and ready for Attack. Eat and Drink before we head out! In one hour the Attack will start. Am I clear?"

All Soldiers yelled in unison and with discipline "Ja, Oberkommandant !"

* * *

End of chapter 2


	27. The fall of the Tyrant

***Ironmood Mammal occupied side, 6:33 PM***

Crash was still hiding behind the ruins walls as he waited for Nick to return. Crash looked around and saw a Raccoon trying to take a look of what was happening on the Battlefield.

SPLATTER

Brain matter went flying everywhere and also hit Crash in the face a bit. There was a really big Bullet hole in the top section oft he Raccoon's helmet as Crash overlooked the liveless body.

A shudder went through Crash and his eyes went wet as he clutched his shot shoulder. Slowly the adrenaline was fading and he could feel a really stinging pain close to his armpit.

„Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." Crash muttered silently as he looked at the Raccoon. He just closed his eyes to block out the sight and with it the thoughts about it.

Crash was wondering why he'd volunteered for war as he always was the softest and kindest and most innocent boy in his classes at school. Always, not one year there was an exception.

Crash started to cry for himself very silently. At once someone grabbed his healthy shoulder and asked in a really, really deep voice:

„You Crash? Nick's new buddy here on the front, eh?"

Crash nodded slowly and opened his eyes to see, to his surprise a really small Fox.

„Hey wait a moment. You're Finnick the Fennec Fox and Childhood buddy of Nick, aren't you?"

„Heh, you're damn right Kid. At the moment though Nick's havin' bit o' trouble with those Kraut snipers. Gotta help that crazy ol'idiot out as always."

Crash stared as Finnick placed down a suitcase and casually began to put together a Sniper gun well two times his size, comfortably laid down and overlooked all nearby hills, until he found something.

„Well, well, well. Would you look at that. It's good ol' Harry 'n Hawkeye. These fuckers already cost me about a dozen of my fellow snipers. They are indeed good, especially for Humans."

BANG

„Huh, I intended that shot to hit his hips, not his arm."

Finnick said as he went to reload.

„Uhh Finnick who are ‚'Harry' and ‚Hawkeye'?"

BANG

„You mean, who WAS Hawkeye. He WAS an enemy sniper that put me and my sniper corpse through a lot of trouble in the past year in this city. But now I finally got that fucker and….

BANG

..Harry too. Hasta la vista, bitches."

*Ironmood Mammal occupied side, city center, 6:33 PM*

Nick was running as fast as he could as he suddenly remembered

„Oh shit enemy snipers!"

Nick abruptly came to a stop and as if he knew that the shot was coming he saw it just 1 meter in front of him hit the ground and sling up a bit of dirt.

„Whoa close one. Good luck with yer next shot, ya piece of shit"

He thought to himself about the enemy sniper. He started running again as fast as he could and started to change speeds all 3 seconds to avoid getting shot.

*PPHHHEEWWWW*

Nick heard a high pitched whistling and felt a bullet go through some of his tail fur.

„alright enough of this you fucker!"

Nick thought as he grabbed his shouldered Rifle and knelt into the dirt behind a Human Lich for a bit of cover. He checked the hill closest to him and was surprised to see two enemy Snipers just get up from behind a bush.

BANG

He watched after his shot and was surprised to indeed see the enemy sniper lose his underarm.

„Whoa, now I didn't know our Rifles had that much power."

He reloaded and took another shot but this time the other enemy sniper fell although he had aimed at the same on again.

„What the….? Is my Aim really that off? Oh wait… I bet that's Finnick picking them off right now. Heh, Finnick that little bugger, always caring about me. Thanks old Friend!"

Nick started to run into the direction of the city center again. After about 3 minutes of running he reached an olive green tent that had a white circle and a red cross inside that white circle.

„*heavy breathing* OH-oh ma-an. Huh. *wheeze*I-I thought I'd di-ie on the w-way here. AHHHHH. I need a M-Me-Medi…..Medic on th-e outskirts of the city….center. Now, please-„

A Retriever Dog came out of the Tent towering over Nick by about 30 centimeters (12 Inches / 1 foot)

„You're the one that needs a Medic?"

„Yes! I'm soldier Nicholas P. Wilde at your service! A fellow soldier of mine was wounded at the outskirts of the city's center and needs treatment. You're Mister…?

„Niklasson, Mister Wilde. I'm glad you came here since my day was quite boring. All I had to do today was tell some guys over and over again that they're fellow soldier either is dead or the operation was no trouble at all. That's really boring."

„Well, Sir my friend got hit in the shoulder and now is incapable of fighting good. Althought I doubt he would've fought good anyways, he still seems like a schoolkit…"

„Well, mister Wilde you don't really seem much older than 18 either"

„To your information, Sir, I'm 21 years old."

„As I said, not much older than 18…"

„Three years isn't much for you?! How old are you? 50?"

„Actually, that came close. I'm 47 years old and studied medicine at Zootopia's University"

„Hmm I was there too 6 months ago. Now I'm here and I'm happy to be here. I like fighting for what's right a lot. Now, I'd love to talk some more but we'll have to get to my friend now. I hope you understand?"

„Of course I do. We can talk some more when we're at where I'm needed. For now let's try to not get killed by enemy snipers, alright?"

„Oh you needn't worry about enemy snipers, Sir. Two were just executed by a good friend of mine. Other snipers will think twice before taking a shot, heheehe."

„Well what do I know? Have you befriended half of the United Army?"

„Maybe…"

Nick answered with a sly grin as they started to move in a comfortable but rather quick walk towards the location Crash was at.

* * *

 ***Ironmood Human occupied side, 7:00 PM***

Oberkommandant Neff was standing in the Trech on a wooden platform to get the attention of all his soldiers.

„Soldate! Loset zue! LOSET ZUE! Guet jetzt, da alli am zuelose sind…."

(„Soldiers! Listen here! LISTEN HERE! Good now that all are listening…."

A soldier started talking again and Oberkommandant Neff reacted with pulling his Revolver from it's holster and shooting the undisciplined and unworthy swine of a soldier in the head. A bit of blood oozed out of the hole in his head.

„JETZT loset hoffentlich würklich alli vo euch zue. Es fallt mir ja nöd eifach eine vo euch z'erschüsse aber mängisch hani kei anderi wahl zum eure respekt verdiene."

(„NOW hopefully all of you are listening. It isn't easy for me to just shoot one of you but sometimes you leave me no other choice to earn your respect.")

In Swiss German Oberkommandant Neff started to talk again to his soldiers.

„Good. Now a bit less then an hour ago I told you that we'll launch an attack against the furs and that all that are able to, shall carry a gun and fight. We will start running at the enemy's position at my command, you hear me loud and clear?"

„Ja, Oberkommandant Neff!"

„Very good" Fabio (Oberkommandant Neff) replied with a calm and satisfied voice.

„5!" „4!" „3!" „2!" „1!"

„LOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS!"

All the soldiers (about 1000) stormed out of the trench at the same time and as soon as they were exposed dozens of gunshots could be heard. Multiple Humans fell after just 2 seconds of sprinting, while others stopped to take shots at the Animals dumb enough to expose themselves to so many Humans.

All Mammals that thought it was a good Idea to come out of their hiding spot were shot almost simultaneously. Lots of Blood flying through the ruins of Ironmood and keeping the Muddy ground a Muddy ground as it was supposed to be.

Screams and Gunshots were able to be heard everywhere all around the ruins after the Humans had stormed so fearlessly into battle 20 minutes ago. In these short 20 minutes 300 Humans have fallen and about 1000 Mammals because they just weren't as organized and of course didn't have such modern guns as the Humans. And they weren't lead by a ruthless, fearless Oberkommandant that had held this city with roughly 4000 men against 10 times as many Mammals for almost 1 year.

„If I knew it was this fucking easy." Oberkommandant Neff said „ I would've done it long ago!"

BAM BAM BAM

He enjoyed the shocked expression on the mammals face as he unloaded his Golden decorated Colt Peacemaker into the chest of the Mammal dumb enough to try and get Neff by surprise.

„Idiot. You won't get a Lieutenant that has fought for 3 years by surprise that easily!"

The Two guards next to him laughing a bit and shutting up again as he sternly looked at them.

„What are you two doing here? Go search for any cowards that try to hide! No mercy, No prisoners!"

The two soldiers went to the right and made a turn to the left after they passed a destroyed house.

„NAZIM! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE! SHOW YOURSELF YOU OLD BASTARD! COME OUT WOLFIE! COME OUT, COME OUT! I WANNA SEE YOUR PANICKED FACE AS I SLIT OPEN YOUR THROAT AND LET YOU BLEED OUT WHILE I TELL YOU HOW I'M GONNA DO THE SAME THING TO YOUR FAMILY!"

Oberkommandant Neff Screamed like a pyschopath into the ruins. And to his surprise there came out a Wolf from behind a few destroyed walls.

„You want a dogfight? I'll give you a WOLFFIGHT!" Nazim screamed.

Nazim was a very respected Commander among his soldiers. But now he couldn't be respected by any soldiers as his last one was just killed by Neff a few moments ago.

Neff got rid of his heavy Liieutenant Mantle and unsheathed his Knife.

„Come here you fucker! I'm gonna make a new Mantle out of your Fur!"

„Come here and try to get it, if you dare. All I heard about you is that you're able to shoot your own soldiers and kill mammals that can't defend themselves!"

„Well I enjoyed killing your Soldier before. And he DID have a rifle."

Neff Smiled coldly as he took some steps into Nazim's Direction.

„I heard my troops call you Chainbreaker, Nazim. Is it because you try to get a nice name into the lines of my troops or becasue they were bored and made a bad joke about you?"

„You're gonna find out when I'll maul your throat you arrogant piece of shit! All you Humans can do is fight like cowards and talk with a big mouth!"

Neff and Nazim stormed at each other Nazim pouncing at Neff, who quickly dodged that pounce by kneeling down and just holding his knife up, cutting Nazim's left side completely open.

„As I said…. I'll make a Mantle outta your fur, you bastard!"

Nazim just laid there staring coldly at Neff with his right eye, as his left eye was covered by an eyepatch because of previous fights.

As Neff knelt down to cut Nazims throat, Nazim at once grabbed Neffs Shoulders tightly and let out his claws to bury them in Neff's shoulders. He then pulled away his Paws quickly to rip Neff's shoulders apart.

„AAAHHHH! VERDAMMTE SAUHUND! DU ELENDIGS INZUCHT CHIND!"

(„AAAHHHH! DAMN BASTARD! YOU FUCKING INCEST CHILD!")

Neff dropped to the ground completely and just laid there staring at Nazim.

„Go ahead you walking pelt! Kill me! You'll die too anyways!"

„Will I? Maybe but not today Oberkommandant Neff. You should have thought about your actions more carefully and maybe you'd still be alive."

Nazim got closer and closer to Neff a Triumphant smile tugging at his lips.

„So long Neff."

Nazim strangled Neff with his paws before burrying his claws in his throat and completely mauling it.

An end was put to Oberkommandant Neff and maybe now, they could finally win over this city.

„I hate to admit it, but you were a War genius Neff. Holding us back while being outnumbered by 10 to 1. That's really impressive you old bastard."

Nazim didn't know why but he was kind of sad that his rival was dead. He just was the perfect enemy. Not totally outmatching him but making his Life hard and keeping it interesting, and now that he was gone he would have to find a new nemesis as perfect as Neff.

* * *

End of chapter 3


	28. Another Life laid to waste

***Ironmood Mammal occupied side, 2:30 AM, 7th of June***

Ramtin, along with his fellow comrades, the remaining two Neff brothers, ''JJ'', Chester and "Phantom" sat around a small Bonfire they had lit to sustain warmth and cook their food on.

However they had to be careful to not get discovered by any Mammals since the Bonfire did light up the area where it elsewise should be dark.

These six Elite soldiers together formed one of two Elite squads that regulated this godforsaken battle here in Ironmood since more than 1 year.

They didn't like Oberkommandant Neff's character but they had to admit that he was a war genius and had a lot of honor and dignity.

For example he told the Emperor to not bomb cities or use gas in the war. He managed to convince the Emperor through telling him that bombing cities would destroy future Human cities and that using Gas would destroy the Farming fields they could use for war.

Oberkommandant Neff was indeed a clever and honorable Human. Although he had been recently killed, no Human knew that yet.

Ramtin spoke up:

"So…when do we want to start picking off the enemy Guards? Currently it's 2:30 AM"

Chester answered with:

"Well Neff gave us the order to kill them as soon as time hits 3:00 AM. So I guess we'll start then, unless someone discovers s and we have to act quicker. At the moment though it seems as if those dumb Animals don't care at all about their lives."

Phantom joined into the conversation with releasing huge burp first and then said:

"Well I don't care when as long as I get to kill at least 10 of them! It's so fun to watch them fighting for life as they bleed out."

Phantom took another sip of Rootbeer and relaxed some more until the time would come.

Chester as always would begin to sing a bit to keep the morale high and "JJ" would listen gladly as Chester really had a talented voice.

All in all they were happy men that got thrown together because of their ability to become ruthless killers on command.

These six men alone killed well over 1000 Mammals in the past year, and combined in all 3 years since they arrived here probably more than 4'500. They're Soldier with the most kills was Michael Neff with approximately 850 kills. Second was Phantom with about 840 kills.

These two always made bets who would have the most kills after a mission and the loser would have to pay the next round of beer in the Tavern.

*Ironmood Mammal occupied side, 3:00 AM 7th of June*

"Alright boys, let's start the turkey shoot. Whoever gets the msot silent kills receives a prize from me" said Phantom with a rough and icy voice. "And as always, that prize won't be easy to get for any of you. So you may try to put your best efforts into this."

"Yeah, right. I'll win anyways"

"Oh but of course you will, Michael*

"So you think you got better chances than me, Sebastian? Don't make me laugh you maggot."

"Well I sure do since I'm not smelling as terrible a you, haahahaha"

"Shut the fuck up you little retard!"

"Both of you shut up! I came here to do silent kills and if both of you keep talking like that it's not going to work." Said ''JJ'' in an annoyed tone.

They all packed their Honey badger Rifles and silenced Sniper guns. They also each had 2 Frag grenades and 2 Flashbangs as well.

Chester, as always, also had a bit of C4 and a claymore to secure their position if they decide to stay at one for a bit longer.

The group of 6 slowly made their way through the forest behind enemy lines and were careful to not make a lot of sound.

After about 10 minutes of strolling around in the woods they encountered their first enemy Guards. A pack of 10 Wolves that quickly fell due to 6 Honey badger Rifle being fired at them seemingly out of nowhere.

The next group of enemies wasn't far away and, luckily, had their backs turned to them. This time it were 4 Foxes and 2 Raccoons sitting at a Bonfire probably drinking a lot of beer.

They also were stumbling around like drunkards having a great time. JJ just took a frag and threw it into the group of six not really bothering to stop and watch as he continued his walk through the forest.

*BOOM*

The bodies of the six Mammals all flew away in different directions some missing an arm or a leg, others looking like swiss cheese because of all the shrapnel and one Fox just got his whole front mauled because he was so close to the grenade.

That one Fox flew all the way over to Chester who then took a close look at him. He took the foxes nametag and read it.

"Lincoln, James. Zootopia. 31 years old."

He then looked through Lincoln's pockets for food or a grenade to replace the used one. He didn't find any of it, however he did find a piece of paper.

"Oh. Hopefully a map or an important letter. Let's see."

* * *

Dear James

I miss you a lot and think of you every day. Our child is soon to be born! I am so very excited to become a mother, with your kits of all! I love you so dearly. I sincerely hope that you will return to me after you have served the 2 last days that you have to. I baked some of your favorite cookies just for you James! I hope you enjoy them and return safely.

Yours truly,  
Mathilda

* * *

Chester had a slightly hurt grimace as he read the letter. He held back tears and a sob of sorrow as he stood there in silence staring into nothingness.

"Well what is it?" asked JJ

"Nothing important" Chester answered with a slight voice crack as he crumbled up the letter and threw it into the fire.

"That didn't seem like nothing, according to your voice, Chester" JJ pressed.

"Well nothing important" Chester repeated straightening his back and faking a cold voice.

"We killed someone that was about to be a father and would've gotten released from duty in 2 days' time."

"Awww, how sad. We kiwwed someone who was about to be a fathew. Awww" JJ said with an imitated baby voice.

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T GET IT YOU PSYCHOPATH! HIS DEATH WAS COMLETELY UNNECESSARY! ALL HE DID WAS ENJOY SOME BEER WITH HIS FRIEND! WHAT DID HE DO WRONG? TELL ME!"

"What did he do wrong? Volunteer as a Soldier while having a pregnant wife, maybe?"

"He didn't volunteer! He HAD to serve because of the rule the Zootopians have made! Everyone older than 20 years and fewer than 40 years has to serve at least 1 month in war."

"Oh I'm so sorry. Nevertheless he was a fur and deserves to die! Our Emperor told us so, and we will do so!"

"Oh you're one of these guys that just does everything the Emperor wants us to and blindly trusts everything he says just to get a promotion? You're a typical idiot in this case."

"Both of you morons quit it! It is sad yes, but we can't undo it so just accept it and continue our mission!" Phantom said as his nerves were getting short.

They kept clearing the forest of Furs until Dawn and then returned to their barracks they have dug underground to stay behind enemy lines all the time. The most dangerous thing of a mission behind enemy Lines is returning to your own side, not killing enemies behind their own lines.

And to avoid that danger they simply stayed behind enemy lines all the time. Of course Phantom, the group leader, had this Idea as he was a really clever and experienced guy.

*Ironmood Mammal occupied side, 11:00 AM, 9th of June*

Chester was slowly getting eaten up by the sorrow of killing so many unsuspecting beings.

They didn't even get a chance to fight, to prove themselves worthy of Life. No, they just got killed because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Chester couldn't take it all. He was praying and crying for the lost ones everyday. Not only Humans, no for Mammals too.

*Ironmood Mammal occupied side, 3:00 AM, 20th of June*

Yet another mission for the Squad of Phantom. Phantom did notice a change in Chester since that mission on the seventh of June but couldn't quite tell what it was. He was worried but just told himself that Chester was slowly becoming ruthless too.

"Hey, Chester are you ok?" Phantom asked him.

"Of course, why shouldn't I?" Chester asked back quite confused.

"Well, it just seems like you have changed a lot recently. Are you sure you want to keep serving in war?"

"Yeah. I can't just leave you after serving under you for more than 3 months."

"Alright. Just don't get caught up in too much trouble, singer boy!"

*Ironmood Mammal occupied side, Barracks of Phantom's squad, 7:24 PM, 22nd of June*

Phantom was the first one to see the horrible drastic change in the Barracks. He called all his fellow soldiers together except for one of them: Chester.

The reason was, that Chester was hanging from the Barracks' roof with a rope around his neck. He had killed himself.

"Oh god. We should've seen it coming. He changed so much over the past 3 weeks…" Phantom spoke.

All of the remaining 5 in the squad cut the rope, put him in a self-made coffin and Saluted him.

"The loss of you, old friend, lays heavy upon us. We miss you already this very moment and hope it could've been different. We will never forget you, Chester Fennington"

Ramtin kneeled down beneath the coffin and cried out his sorrow as well as Sebastian and Michael.

"We will never forget you, friend" said Ramtin. Suddenly Michael noticed a piece of paper on the ground. He picked it up and found it to be a letter.

"Hey guys I think this is Chester's last note!"

He read it out loud:

* * *

Dear companions,

I am sorry it had to came this way but I saw no other choice available. War consumed me way more than I ever thought something can consume a Living being. My death shall encourage you to stay strong. Finally my last thoughts: Why is everything so heavy? It's so much more than I can carry! I can't hold on when stretched so thin, with thoughts of failure sinking in! I ask myself why did I play myself this way and never run away?Stranded in fear... caged in anxiety... locked in sadness there is only one way to open the lock: to pierce the one thing holding you in that place. Your mind.

Your friend,

Chester.

* * *

End of chapter 4

Notes:

Yes this chapter obviously is a tribute to Chester Bennington as his death hit me hard since he used to be a great part of my Childhood. I will forever miss him and never forget him.


	29. A deed to not be forgotten

***Ironmood No-man's-land, 12:41 PM, 6** **th** **of June***

Nick and Niklasson finally returned to Crash and Finnick. The first thing Nick noticed was the Raccoon's corpse and it's head's contents being pretty much everywhere.

Nick just had to gag at the sight of Crash as Crash never bothered to clean his face of the brain matter he got splashed at him. Nick mentioned:

"Uhh, no offence Crash, but you look REALLY gross like that. I mean, like, reaaaally gross"

"Huh? What's wrong? Oh.. yeah, now I got it. HHUUURRKK. Uugghhh- ahhh. HUUUUUURRRKKK!"

Nick watched in disgust as Crash vomited his stomach completely empty. Suddenly it seemed really inviting to just do the same and-

HHUUURRKKK

"Oh my go- HURK. Ogosh-*burp* ahhh HURRRRK"

"Oh my. I've seen such things before but you two really take it to a new level of business, hohohohohoho-hahahahahaha-ahhhh" Niklasson just had to laugh at it all being used to it a long time by now, since most patients he had used to throw up.

Either because of disgust, pain, nausea, too much drugs, nervousness or simply sadness.

Niklasson cared for Crash while Finnick kept an eye on nearby hills, trees and bushes. This whole Battlefield just was one giant mud field with a lot of dead trees, bushes, ruins and even more corpses.

It really was a sad panorama…. To see that many corpses. All of them once were a living being, with it's own sense of consciousness. Just like you and me. Really sad to think that they all died for naught up to now.

"Ahh well, the view that disturbs so many. I've gotten used to it long since. I've already served in many wars you know. It might sound weird but you'll get used to it with ti—

*Whistle* CLINK!

"Oh Goodness! Now that was a close one! I could feel it fly past my arm!" Niklasson finished. He ducked down and got close behind the wall they all were hiding behind now.

"Heh, served in so many wars but still don't know that I should hide myself at all times. However that is a daring Soldier to try and shoot a medic. I thought it was against the laws of war to shoot someone of medical importance."

"Yeah it is but a lot of these Humans just don't care about it since we are 'only Furs'. They think we should serve them like slaves or be their source of food. Ridiculous!"

Said Nick now grabbing his Rifle tightly.

"alright tell me when he comes around the corner, okay?"

"I can see him coming closer. Wait." Finnick tried to look closer and wanted to look through his sniper rifle as just then something landed next to him.

He looked at it for a moment's fracture of time and realized what it was.

"FUCK THIS LOAD OF SHIT! THAT'S A DAMN GRENADE!"

He yelled as he grabbed it and threw it back really quickly.

BOOM

A few screams could be heard and other Human soldiers crying out for some help.

"Well nobody messes with good ol' Finnick here. They really should have thought that through more"

Nick was still gripping his gun tightly. In fact so tightly that his knuckles turned white under his red-orange fur making it seem like it was shining in a weird tone of yellow.

"Well Finnick you come with me, okay? I wanna push back the Humans a bit. They're already pushing us since almost 6 hours by now. It's a wonder they're just reaching us now and haven't done so way earlier."

"Well I can help too, comrades. I'm not as experienced but I've fought before. Definitely made my share of sins through murder."

Niklasson said while first looking at Nick, then Finnick and finally at the ground before turning back to treating Crash's wound.

"Well we can use every mammal we can get to push them back. But only if you're ready to die for it too." Nick looked at him questionably.

"Hahaha. You think I'm not ready to die? Look at you! You're so young and still ready to throw your lives away. I'm not afraid of death, we have a friend in common, I think!" Niklasson said with a happy voice and a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Well then, every mammal you said? I'll come with you too, I just need something against the pain and I'll help! Honestly!" Crash said while he was sitting and leaning his back against the wall.

"Well then, I'll give you some morphine and off we'll be I guess"

"Well I'm ready whenever you guys are"

"Me too"

"the same" said a heavy accented voice from behind them.

"I guess I should first get some cover, huh?" The new mammal moved closer to them to get some cover behind the wall. "Well, hello guys my name is Nazim. You might also know me as 'Chainbreaker'. I need to get some new Soldiers who are brave enough to follow me on an offensive against the Humans, and as I heard you are just planning one."

Nazim made a pause to sit down, take a sip of water from his flask and think for a bit.

" You definitely seem like brave mammals. If you don't mind I will take command of us, as I have experience as a corpse leader. I recently just lost my last few Soldiers under my command in an effort to kill Oberkommandant Neff."

He looked around a bit and took a grenade from his belt, ripped off the ring and threw it over the wall.

BOOM

Two Human corpses flew into the open from behind the wall.

"Some tough fight it was against the Oberkommandant. He cut open my whole left flank. You mind to check it out, doc?"

"Not at all." Said Niklasson. "I'm very glad to help anyone either if it is to die a painless death or live a healthy life, I'll do my best at all times."

* * *

 ***Ironmood No-man's-land, 13:55 PM, 6** **th** **of June***

"Alright since we all are treated, have eaten and drank something and all our Rifles are loaded and spirits high, there would be no better time to start going, right?"

"Right."

"You got it"

"True"

"Of course"

"Okay, then let's load and blaze!" Nazim was the first to round the corner, as a brave leader always should, and as a welcoming gift received a bullet to the shoulder.

"Dammit! I just got treated you dork!" He shot back and made the Human fall from the partly open house down onto the ground.

They started moving again and stopped inside a half destroyed house.

"Shhh, listen closely"

"Yeah" said Nick. "I'll clear them out." He prepared himself, rounded the corner and

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG

"All right boys, I got'em all. They had no chance. Weren't prepared for a counter-offensive at all."

They went walking through the ruins for quite some time until they met an enemy squad of 3 on the streets. As everyone was running for cover Finnick just stood still, took his time and unloaded his Pistol into the back of one of the Humans.

They had a dogfight for quite some time as shots regularly were traded between Humans and Mammals. After some time though one of the Humans exposed himself too much because he got too greedy on killing the Doc.

As the one Human fell dead to the ground the last Human proceeded to throw away his Rifle, pistol and his Grenades.

"W-wa-wartet mal! Ich will doch gar ned kämpfe! Ich mach's nur zum ned uffalle! No shoot , please. No shoot!"

(„W-wa-wait a moment! I don't even want to fight! I just do it to not get suspected! No shoot, please. No shoot!)

He slowly moved towards them and grabbed something, very slowly, from his pocket. He gave it to Nick. It was a piece of Cheese with bacon and some bread together with chocolate wrapped into some cloth.

"Well, as you seem to be a, rather, reasonable Human, I'll let you go." Nick said with an expression of disliking

The Human got onto his knees and said:

"Ohh Danke! Danke! Thanks! I will tell kommandant of you kindness!"

He got up and ran away quickly yelling back 'Danke' over and over again.

They all looked at each other and silently made an agreement that if they'll see him fighting again, that they'll flay him alive.

They prepared to move on and rounded a corner and walked on a bit more through the ruins of the city until they came around a destroyed house and on the middle of the street they found a mounted, stationary KPV Heavy Machine-gun with about 10 Humans standing around near it. One of them spotted Nazim and his group and came into a hurry of panic and stress.

"HEY! Alli a ihre poschte! Da sind es paar pelz!" ("HEY! Everyone at arms! There's some Furs!") The one with a Black helmet yelled. The other ones, which all had gray Helmets, grabbed their guns and knelt down to get more cover from the sandbags.

For Nazim and his group there was no cover around and to run back would take too long.

Nazim grabbed a grenade as quickly as he could while the Humans prepared to shoot.

The Machine gun started firing aiming at Nazim. In the last moment though Niklasson threw himself in front of him shielding Nazim from the bullets to give him time to throw the grenade into the trench.

KA-BOOOO-M

A lot of shrapnel flew around including some Human Armory and body parts. 7 of 10 Humans were killed by the explosion, the other 3 unable to continue fighting, either because they were unconscious or too hurt.

Nazim and the rest of the group surrounded Niklasson and knelt down.

"Oh how ironic fate sometimes is" Niklasson said with a small, sad smile. "The doctor needs treatment, haha .*cough* Well I guess none of you know how to treat me? Neither do I. As short as my time with you was. I loved every second of it. Please don't let war decay your friendly and kind Nature. Especially you, Crash. You're too beautiful to get deceived by war's cruelness."*cough*

They all started to let the tears roll down their cheeks.

"Well, doctor. I guess we'll meet again in death? I hope so, at least." Crash said. "You've done so much for me yet I can't do a thing for you." Crash said and started sobbing all the more. He hugged the old Retriever and didn't want to let go of him again.

Nazim said: "You should have let me die, Niklasson. It's what a good leader does."

"And a good soldier would die at any moment for a leader like you, Nazim. You're a Sparkle of hope in our lines, as is everyone of you. You all have to fight together for the freedom and lives of all Zootopians and Mammals. Please fight with all you've got and let my death be in service of the good."

"What is your first Name, Niklasson? I don't ever wanna forget you."

"That I will tell you when we meet again, because right now it is unnecessary to know my name."

"what do you mean?" Crash asked as Niklasson closed his eyes and let his head sink to the ground.

"What I…..mean wi-ith that…..is…..that I'll…..tell you…when we…will me-et again."

Niklasson smiled and welcomed death's inviting embrace as he drifted off into the everlasting sleep.

Nazim and the rest of the group stood up and Saluted him.

"We won't forget you, comrade and certainly won't let your death be for naught!"

They all helped each other ease their pain and grabbed the Mantles of the Humans. Well at least these that were still one piece.

They laid them over the body of Niklasson and then laid some rocks on top as an improvised Grave.

Everybody laid something from his armory on top of it.

Nazim laid the name tag of Niklasson and a Flower he had kept from home on top.

Crash laid his Cross necklace on top.

Finnick laid his Knife on top

Nick laid his Helmet on top to protect it all from the rain.

Together these things told a little story: Life blooms and hope gives people the courage to go through life and through war, until death comes and takes you into his welcoming arms to take you into the next stage of life. (Flower resembling Blooming Life, Cross resembling hope, Knife resembling death.)

* * *

End of chapter 5

(This chapter amde myself sad because, even tohugh he only was a part of the story shortly, Niklasson really was a character I liked a lot. He totally sacrificed himself very bravely.)


	30. The great march

***Ironmood no-man's-land, 15:00 PM, 6th of June***

Nazim, Nick, Crash and Finnick all were walking towards the center of the city, towards the same place Nick was before to get Dr. Niklasson. They went there for one reason: Wounded soldiers.

When Nazim and the others reached the dozens of tents with easily 500 wounded soldiers just laying inside, outside and nearby the tents in the mud or on some blankets. Nazim grabbed a box of supplies to stand onto and started to speak to the wounded ones:

"Hey! Listen here please! Can I please get your attention for a minute or two?"

"Of course you can, they don't have anything else to do here." Nick replied silently with a sarcastic hint in his voice. Nazim just gave him an amused look and replied just loud enough for the two of them to hear: "Well you're maybe right but a lot of them are bored by it."

"Alright, now that some of you are listening, I wanted to ask you all something. Do you want to make the Humans pay for what they did? If yes then stand up now, if you can of course, and come closer to me, please"

Quite a few Mammals stood up and slowly made their way towards that mysterious Wolf that came out of nowhere and suddenly started a speech. Some just out of interest of what he was going to say, others because they really wanted to make the Humans pay and some others again just because they were bored and had nothing else to do.

"Alright, guys. Now that you are closer I can speak without screaming to all of you. So my plan, well actually the plan of this clever fox here next to me-" said Nazim who made a step to the right and held out an arm towards Nick, who was smiling slightly and nodded towards the group of about 200 soldiers. "Is to flank around the position of the Human in a great bow. This bow goes all the way to the neighbored Farms, so if you can't walk properly you won't be able to come with us."

"Yes" Nick started to speak. "You see, I'm getting annoyed by Humans thinking they're better than us because they're holding this city since 2 years! I want to kick their asses and show them that we are the bosses around here!"

The crowd cheered and threw their arms into the air.

"So, my plan is following: during night we march through the crop fields of the neighbored Farms, all the way behind the Humans. During day we will rest. When we flanked the Humans we will plant 200 grams of dynamite in every single of their Barracks or resting tents and then when the time has come we detonate it all at once."

"Yes, very good plan at that Nick. You see my fellow brothers; we have to be careful in the final night of this battle. It decides between success and failure. The Humans will have some guards for sure and we will have to be extremely cautious. Since other Humans would wake up through gunfire we must eliminate the Gurads before they can see any of us. Are there any stealth specialists here?"

"Me, and my few friends. We were in a group of specially trained forces before. We got surprised and smashed by a Flak Tank(Anti-infantry Tanks) however. We once were over 50, now we're only 20."

"Well that's enough if you serve well. We only need few that kill the Human guards, all others will be required to place the dynamite. As long as you can walk and fight with at least one arm you're all good to join our group. That counts for everyone! As long as you can walk and fire a gun you're in."

The crowd cheered again and had high spirits. The sky seemed to lighten up a bit as well and the sun shone through the clouds again since a long time.

"Alright men, get some rest now. All that want to join me and my group should be ready and armed today evening at 20:00 PM as that is the time we will start our march. Any questions?"

"Uhh, yes-" A rather young Raccoon asked "Isn't 20:00 PM a bit early since it's summer? The sun will probably still be shining and we won't be covered by the darkness of night."

"Normally it would be, yes, but since we're still in the middle of the city the Humans won't see us when we start marching earlier. Any other questions?"

"No sir, all clear!" Most of them replied. Nazim tried to count them several times and each time ended up with about 210 soldiers. 'Not bad at all' Nazim thought to himself. That's way more than he ever had to take command of and he was a bit nervous.

"Calm down, dude. You'll manage that. I mean you got me and the rest through the Human frontline alive."

"Thanks. Those words mean a lot to me, Nick. You know even though we just met some hours ago I can already tell that you'll be a very great soldier. Therefore I trust you as my second in command."

"R-really?!" Nick asked surprised with his eyes wide open for a few seconds until he got back to his normal, calm attitude.

"Thank you sir! Your trust in me encourages me to fight harder!" Nick replied and stood straight and saluted his Commander.

Nick and his friends then went ahead to get some well earned rest until they had to be ready.

* * *

 ***Ironmood no-man's-land, 20:00 PM, 6th of June***

Nick got woken up by all the noise made of boots trampling around in mud. He opened his eyes and looked at his watch. 20:01 PM.

"Mmmmhhhhh, that felt good to get some rest. Hey, Finnick. Finnick. FINNICK!" Nick had to scream to wake the fennec fox from his slumber.

"A-AH-WHATTHEFUCKISHAPPENING?! Oh it's only you….." Finnick said with his grumpy tone.

"Couldn't ya've waked me in a mo' comf'table way?"

"Nope" Nick said with a sly grin and a lazy glance.

"You do that again, I BITE YO FACE OFF!"

"Hahahahahahahahahaahhhhh!" Nick just blurted out with laughter because it worked every time when he teased Finnick.

"Alright buddy, c'mere we gotta get up and start our march soon."

"Who said I'm gonna come with y'all? I ain't goin' nowhere as long s'there's still plenty o' Hum'ns in this dang city to kill!"

"But Finnick! We'll go do exactly that! Did you even listen to Nazim and me before?"

"Sorry, but nope. I was counting the amount of bullshit you told to me while we were childs."

"UUUGGHHHH. Not THAT again…."

"HA! I got ya! I got ya, ya damn sly fox! Slick Nick! HAH!"

"Yeah alright you got me. Anyways are you gonna come with us now?"

"Oh but of course I'll come with ya. Ye really thought I'd let such a chance slip right through my paws?"

* * *

 ***Ironmood outskirts, 04:00 AM, 7th of June***

"Ma-an….'m gonna….fall asle-ep …while wal…king…..uhh" Nick groaned as he felt yet another blister form on his foot.

"Well. Try to not fall asleep li'l Nicky-boy. I wouldn't want you to-

SPLASH

And with that Finnick just vanished in the crop fields. It took Nick quite some time ro react to the whole thing and laugh about it. After 10 seconds Finnick finally got up again and now continued to walk behind Nick instead of next to him.

"Aww man. I think that was some shit I slipped on…. Who the hell shits inside a field? Oh wait. Everyone spread shit in the fields"

"hahahahah. Well. Hehe. It certain- *giggle* It certainly was funny for me though."

"Yeah of course you'd laugh about it when it happens to someone else.

* * *

 ***Ironmood outskirts, 06:00 AM, 7th of June***

"Alright guys" Nazim announced "time to come to a stop and sleep. Grab your bayonets and cut some Wheat to create a plain to sleep. You can also use the Wheat as mattress.

All the soldiers started to cut some wheat and bunched it up for the usage of improvised mattresses.

After about 30 minutes of cutting and laying out wheat they all got some well earned rest.

"Well done soldiers, go take your well earned rest. I will select a few of you every day to guard in 1 hour shifts. Oh and don't take off your boots otherwise your paws will swell up and you won't get back into your boots."

The tired soldiers acknowledged that but didn't respond because they were, well, too tired. The Wheat fields were just going on forever into the horizon except for a few Barns standing in the far distance. They were actually so small that you could hardly know it was a barn. It just was one small dot in the middle of the Wheatfield.

Nazim took in the view and thought back at when he was at home. He actually lived on a farm that was cooperative between Bunnies and Wolves. The Wolves would do the hard work and fell trees for more space while the Bunnies planted the crops and vegetables and looked to it so everyone would have food at the end of the day.

He missed that time a lot he just noticed. He missed the smell of the sweat of his brothers and friends, he missed the feel of the soil under his feet and the leaves that would pave the ground. He missed the feel of a cool breeze during the hot summer days while he was felling the trees and chopped them into firewood. He missed the smell of the grilled vegetables and the freshly baked bread during the Festivals they always made as a sign of trust and friendship. And he missed the smell of his mother. His loving, caring, sweet mother.

A tear came to his eyes at the thought of all this. It was a happy tear though and he had to smile at the thought of how his entire Family and all his Bunny friends would react when he came home from this cruel and gruesome war.

He really did miss home but he also was happy to be out here, defending it and all it's residents that made it such a lovely and happy, giddy place. He remembered like he always played with his brothers and his Bunny friends. They would always play Hide and seek. He was at a clear advantage with his excellent sense of smell as a Wolf.

He just had to think of it all at the sight of those beautiful, never-ending fields. It made him happy to notice that he still had some common sense and feelings under the mask this war made him wear. He couldn't allow himself to look weak as the leader of more than 200 soldiers and he certainly couldn't cause another 150 to lose their lives because of his wrong decisions.

As respected as Nazim always was by his followers, even he made mistakes. At this point he regret it that he killed Oberkommandant Neff because he would've loved to learn from him. Neff never seemed to make a mistake. Excpet for the last decision in his life; to send the guards away and fight Nazim all on his own.

But he probably did that for Honor reasons as it would have been unmanly to fight against 1 as a group of 3. The more Nazim thought about it the more he learned to respect Oberkommandant Neff. He noticed how reliable and honorable of an enemy he was, how much dignity he had and how much he risked his reputation for the live of thousands of civilian Mammals. Make no mistake Neff hated Mammals with all his heart, but he wouldn't allow innocent civilians to die if they never did anything.

Nazim just let his mouth go open and widened his eyes as it dawned on him how much Neff did for him and the ones alike him, even while at war with them. He just kneeled down and began to pray for him.

"It truly was an honor to fight you personally, Oberkommandant Neff. You were truly a bold, brave, clever and honorable enemy for me. You were more than worthy as an enemy. I will miss our little fights we always had"

Nazim noticed that his shift was over and let his soldiers go to watch over the fields now.

* * *

 ***Ironmood outskirts, 022:00 PM, 7th of June***

"Alright Soldiers, brothers, please gather around me and I will tell you of the time organization we're gonna have from now on. At all days we will start eating before our march at 22:30 PM. At 23:00 PM I want everyone to be ready to march. We will march until 02:00 AM and then take a break. From 02:15 AM we will continue marching until dawn and then get some sleep. Everyone got that?"

All soldiers answered with: "Yes Commander!"

Any other questions?" Nazim asked. "Yes, commander, only one" Nick sayd.

"Who will be the captain if you should fall in the battle? And who will be the second in command in this case?"

"Of course you will become the new leader, that's why you are currently second in command. However the next to be second in command is up for you to decide, since you will be the captain in said case. Got that?"

"Uhh-yes. Yes Sir." Nick was flashed by the amount of trust Nazim put into him after only knowing him for a single day.

"Sir, don't you think you put too much trust into me? I'm just a regular soldier on the field, sir!"

"Maybe you are, but you are way more dedicated to it than anyone I've seen before. The amount of courage and patience you fight with is a perfect example of how everyone should fight. Lieutnant Wilde" Nazim said the last part with a wide smile on his face and saluted him.

Nick started to smile as well, almost grin even, as he saluted back to his captain.

"Well I'll go take some rest now Nick. See you later again."

"farewell Commander, we will certainly meet again when it's time to march again."

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, outer Fields, 04:00 AM, 12th of June***

"Well soldiers, we will stop here. I need you all well rested for the last night of this battle tomorrow. I am sure our surprise attack will work as the Humans don't show any sort of resistance or defence. They are unsuspecting. Our attack will come as such a huge surprise and shock and disrupt the Human army here in Ironmood enough to make them beg for capitulation for sure. I want top notch fighting from all of you tomorrow, understood? If just one of you fails to do his job perfectly it may cost the life of his fellow comrade. Discipline is expected from all of you!"

"YES SIR! We will fight with focus and discipline, no comrades shall fall for naught!"

Nazim was pleased with the answer his soldiers gave him.

"Good, stand at ease everyone. Today I will tell you that Lieutenant Nicholas P. Wilde will take control of the stealth fighters under you. This will be his first mission in stealth, especially as a leader, but I trust him. So I want you to do so too."

"Yes Sir!"

All his soldiers barked.

"Good then go rest now, you will need your energy tomorrow. All of it." Nazim said his voice getting darker towards the end of the sentence as well as his expression grew darker and well-knowing of what was to come.

* * *

End of chapter 6


	31. The meeting

***Tri-burrows, outer Fields, 22:00 PM, 12th of June***

Nazim and the soldiers following him had started with cutting Wheat and bundling it together to bales 1 hour ago. They used the wheat bales as improvised sandbags and had started to build a wall with them and dug trenches as a sort of last defense wall in case of their mission failing.

They had even gotten their hands onto 2 of those special Human machine guns and stationed them by the wall to have a solid defense if the Humans decided to fight them.

Nazim and Nick were going over the plan of the mission for the third time by now, just to make sure no one screwed up for sure.

"Alright so Finnick is gonna keep checking our surroundings and tell us if he sees something odd, right?" Nick asked.

"Yes, me and my troops won't be needing him. We have the advantage of you and your boys cleaning up the guards. You need all the additional eyes you can get."

"Alright, so me and my boys will be splitting up and cleaning all the guards off while you go through all the barracks and tents and plant 2 rods of dynamite in them. Then exactly when it's 00:02 AM, 13th of June you'll detonate them, right?

"Yes, no matter if there are some people left behind. This mission must succeed no matter our losses. Even if we all die, 210 traded their lives for more than 3000 in that case. That's an extreme plus for the number of our soldiers."

"Yes, no objection there. Although we should try to save as many as we can. Every man can make a difference. No matter the scale of the battle."

"Hmm, yes you are right. Maybe we should give a warning 10 minutes before we detonate the dynamite to give soldiers the chance to retreat of any battles that may have opened up."

"That is a very good idea, sir. I guess we should now go back to helping our soldiers with the wall. Anyways our mission will start 23:00 PM and you will follow us in 30 minutes later, right?"

"that is correct Corporal Wilde."

"Alright. I will gather my soldiers and prepare them for the mission. Or rather let them prepare me, hehe"

Nick started to turn and walk away into the darkness

"See you after the mission, Corporal." Said Nazim and then whispered "I hope."

Nick turned around "What was that, sir?"

"Oh nothing. Good luck on your first mission as Corporal, Wilde"

"Thank you, sir." Nick saluted and so did Nazim.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, outer Fields, 23:00 PM, 12th of June***

"Alright boys! Time to kick some asses and slit some throats! Let's move out."

"Got you Corporal. I just want to mention, since our commander trusts you I will do so too. Blindly if required."

"Thank you soldier, although you should think before just blindly doing what I request. I might to mistakes since I'm not used to commanding more people than myself."

"Haha. Alright I'll care for it, sir"

The group was making their way into the Human camp that was more a fort than anything else. They were surprised that there weren't any guards at the walls that were actually made of concrete, even at the back of the camp.

"Seems like that Oberkommandant Neff was quite paranoid" commented Nick.

"No sir, he just was a very skilled Chief-commander and had a good understanding of war tactics and such. He made basic fortifications since he was outnumbered heavily by our troops."

"Still…. It seems a bit paranoid to build such concrete walls on the back. I mean you just could have a few spotters guard the nearby fields for enemy activity."

"And what if the enemy then attacks from both sides? Then he won't have enough soldiers to fight on both fronts."

"Well you're right as it seems."

The squad stopped talking as they were quietly climbing the concrete walls that were about 1meter (3 foot) high. Right behind them was a trench that was about 60 centimeters (2 foot) deep. They climbed the wall and jumped down into the trench.

They started heading one way after one of the 23 soldiers had placed a wired bomb to protect their backside. They started moving through the camp and kept an eye open for any Humans. After 10 minutes of strolling around Nick got a weird feeling.

"We're right inside their fort and haven't met any Humans by now. That's really strange. I'm getting a weird feeling about this."

"Calm down, sir maybe the guards are just enjoying themselves somewhere. You never know."

"Well that could be possible. I mean who expects a sudden attack from the back after nothing happened for almost 3 years?"

"No one, except paranoids"

They started moving again but stopped as they heard some voices from a nearby Barrack. To make it even stranger that voice was slightly metallic. Almost robotic.

"Was machet ihr Holzchöpf da inne? Ihr söttet dusse si und wache halte! Ihr verdammte idiote! Was wenn jetzt öppert I eusem Lager isch?!"

("What are you numbskulls doing in here? You should be outside guarding! You damned idiots! What if someone is in our Camp now?!")

The soldiers replied in Swiss German:

"S-sorry Oberkommandant! It won't happen again! We promise!"

"Oh I'll make sure of that!" BAM BAM BAM BAM "Now about you, Jeremy. I always liked you a bit that's why I'll spare you for your idiocy this one time. But if it EVER happens again you'll meet the rest of those idiots again!"

"J-Ja Oberkommandant! Tuet mir leid! ("Y-yes Oberkommandant! I'm sorry!)

"Good, then go grab some new guys now and guard this time. Then maybe I'll pay the beer next time."

"I'm already on my way, sir!"

The doors to the barracks opened up and the soldier stormed out towards a different set of barracks and then returned with 4 other Humans 2 minutes after. They kept strolling around the plaza for some time and looked around the camp for any intruders.

Nick and his soldiers kept hiding in the shadows behind the wall of one of the barracks. Then one of the Humans came closer and closer heading straight for them.

"Alright guys get ready to run for the other Humans, I'll get the one heading for us." Nick said silently as he unsheathed his knife.

"Aye, sir" replied some soldiers. 10 of them paired up in 5 2-person groups. As Nick jumped up to get the Human heading for them the others stormed out of their cover running as fast as lightning through the darkness.

Seconds later some muffled panic cries could be heard as the Humans were stabbed to death.

"Commander Nazim, Nick here. We might have a problem. There are guards but they aren't really guarding. They're just standing around inside the barracks. This will make it impossible to place the dynamite inside them"

"Corporal Nick, Nazim here. We'll just have to quietly crack a window open and then let it roll inside. They probably won't notice as they are most certainly drunk."

"Alright, sir but it puts our success on high risk."

"Rather a high risk of failing then a certain chance to not succeed."

"Alright boys, command of our leader to keep going and try to kill as many Humans as you can get, okay? Not just guards but any of them!"

"Aye, sir! We'll do as expected"

They split up into 2-person groups and started walking around the camp of the Humans.

* * *

 **-Point of view from group 1, Jimmy and George—**

"Hey George move yo fat ass over here! I wanna roam clean this barrack over here. Get your knife and a grenade ready."

"A grenade? Are you retarded ? That will be heard among the whole fucking camp!"

"Whatever I want to blow something up!"

"O-hoh you'll get plenty of chance to do that later on."

Jimmy didn't recognize that voice at first but suddenly it hit him. It was the same metallic voice from the barracks before. Jimmy grabbed his knife and spun around only to look into the barrel of a Colt Peacemaker revolver that was decorated with some gold.

"Stand still, fox! Or I'll kill your little friend over here!"

"Alright…. I don't want any stress, okay?"

"Then tell me. How comes you're inside MY camp? Got lost or what?"

"Uhh-yes! I got lost and wanted to get some help."

"As a Fox. From Humans? Of course. DO YOU THINK I'M COMPLETELY RETARDED?!"

"Uhh-maybe? Who knows it could've wor-

BAM

Jimmy's Head contents splattered onto the wooden wall of the barracks as Jimmy's lifeless corpse, with half a head, just fell against the wall and slowly slid down towards the ground.

"Now about you, little punk. What makes you think you can just come here and invade my Camp and kill my troops?"

"Well, maybe because none of your guards is doing their job?"

"Hmph, yes I'll have to strike some more discipline into them it seems. Anyway you'll tell me where the rest of you are or I'll have you get eaten alive by the vultures."

"Go ahead, I won't backstab my brothers! Do whatever you want to me I won't talk!"

"Ohh a brave little warrior. Let's see what new weapons I can test on you. Let's have a little bit of fun, eh?"

* * *

 **-Point of view Nick and Jacob—**

They were walking inside a dark little path between some barracks as they noticed a tall figure, dragging a fox behind it, walk towards a rather big building labeled with 'Chriegs Labor' (War laboratory).

Nick asked Jacob: "Hey can you recognize who it is he's dragging?"

"Mmh. Yes. It's George. We should probably just ignore it and keep on going. George is a good fighter and whoever brings him down will certainly beat us too. We should forget about him."

Nick struggled to stay hidden as all he wanted to do was just make a dash for it and kill that giant bastard. Nick had to calm down for some time until he realized that Jacob was right. Nick couldn't just risk the whole mission for a single man.

"I'm so sorry George. I really am."

Nick felt sorrow as the Bid Human together with George vanished inside the building. A few minutes later there could be screams heard. That provoked Nick just the more and made him feel worse. Nick felt like a coward. A weak and miserably coward.

"Don't listen, Nick! That's what they want. They want to provoke us into trying to help him. We must stay strong, just like him."

"I know but it feels so…wrong. To hear him fight for us but we just turn our backs and let him die."

"That's what we have to do sir. It's part of being a soldier. You can't always run in like a hero and save everyone. You have to learn to be able to accept losses, even if they are important to you. It hurts me as well to lose George but he is giving his life gladly to give us some more time.

"I guess you are right" Nick said feeling like he had a hole in his stomach.

They started moving again but Nick had trouble staying focused remembering the day he got the letter that told him that his brother went missing over and over again. He didn't want anyone else to feel that same pain. To make the same foolish decisions he had made.

But he had to hold himself back and try his best. He couldn't mess up his first mission as a Lieutenant.

"Nazim we have just experienced our first losses. Are you gonna be there soon?"

"Yes, Nick we are almost there and ready. We have a lot of dynamite so be ready to fight."

"I am sir, I am."

5 minutes later Nazim and the rest of the soldiers arrived. They went to the first barrack and placed the dynamite inside after cracking a window open.

"Alright Nick change of plans. We will blow up as amyn barracks as we can quickly before fighting the other Humans with our guns and our strength we gain through surprising them and supreme Night vision."

"Okay, mind to give me some dynamite?"

"Sorry but I have selected some carriers. Only they are allowed to carry the dynamite as they are strong and fast and have the highest chances of getting several barracks. You can meet Goliath, he's the carrier in my group."

"Hello there!" said a voice form behind Nazim. Then a giant Red fox rounded Nazim and held out his hand towards Nick. Nick just stared with his mouth open.

"Yeah. Most mammals do that when meeting me. My real name is Jamie but just call me Goliath. You know, because of my size, hehehe"

"Uhhh, yeah sure. Nice to meet you, Goliath."

"Nice to meet you too, Lieutenant Wilde."

"How comes I have never noticed you before, Goliath? I mean you're literally the Goliath under red foxes."

"probably because I'm never talking a lot and always hiding in the back a bit. I don't really like being stared at but that happens on its own with such a structure."

"Hey, Jacob you will follow Crash's group, I will follow Nazim's group, okay?"

"Yes sir!"

All the groups consisting of about 20 mammals split up and ran to barracks everywhere blowing them up. It took the Humans about 5 minutes to realize what was happening and another 10 minutes to get ready for battle. Up to that point they have lost about 2000 soldiers.

The remaining 2000 Humans started fighting the Mammals which were something around 220.

To say the least the Mammals which were outnumbered heavily and had less modern weapons had to retreat. It was nothing but a clear statement to say that the mammals' single reload weapons were way less efficient than the Semi-automatic weapons the Humans had.

After just 3 minutes of fighting in the Camp the mammals started a tactical retreat to their improvised wall. The Humans followed them out since they wanted revenge for their lost comrades. When the Mammals were about 200 meters away from their wall Nazim gave the command to duck down and start returning fire while slowly retreating back.

Nick gavce the command over radio for the 2 Mammals that were left behind to open fire with the Machineguns once the Humans were too close to retreat. The following battle was a disaster for the Human side as they lost more than 1'500 Men while the mammals' force shrunk down to 120.

Nick and his group was fighting in the open when a carrier from another group ran past them and got hit in the knee. He fell over. Seconds later a shot landed the jackpot by hitting the 5 Kilograms(c.a. 12 pounds) of Dynamite he was carrying which resulted in a giant explosion, which also ripped open the wall and destroyed a machinegun.

From there on the battle started turning around. The Humans managed to break through the lines of the mammals which from that point on suffered heavy losses. After 8 minutes of fighting the Mammals lost another 50 soldiers while the Humans lost 20.

The battle kept going until dawn. Most Mammals were captured and taken prisoners by the Humans while others managed to run away, including Nick, Nazim, Crash, Goliath, Zack, Tristan, Finnick and Apollo. All of them formed one group except for Nick who was alone.

The giant explosion that happened so close to him took all his sense of thinking. He just ran as fast as he could away from the battle. He didn't think about anything except for running. He didn't even think about which direction he was running away to.

After about 1 hour of running he reached a Barn, went inside and just collapsed onto the ground once inside. He fell asleep and lost his sense of time.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, Hopps Farm,09:00 AM, 18th of June***

Judy was making her way towards the barn with her tools in it. When she opened it however, something was off. Something smelt weird and slightly like blood. She felt angst creeping through her and took a spade to defend herself with if required.

She searched the barn but couldn't find anything until she rounded the Hay bales and saw a dead Fox laying inside one of them. She gasped and let her spade drop and moved her paws in front of her mouth. With wide eyes and a shock she would never forget she watched the dead fox ever so slowly breath.

"Wait. Dead Mammals don't breathe" She thought to herself. "He's still alive! He needs help!"

"Are you sure? He's a fox after all, you never know" thought her inner fear.

"NO! He may be a fox but he's obviously fighting for our side!"

"Are you sure? Then how comes he is in YOUR barn and not on the battlefield?"

"I don't know maybe he escaped from prison?"

"Then he would wear a prisoner's clothes and not the ones of a Soldier! He is a coward!"

"But yesterday there were several explosions to be heard, and Ironmood is only 12 miles from here"

"Then he ran away like a coward!"

"Can you blame him? You didn't even go to war in the first place so don't judge him!"

Judy's inner fear went silent.

"Huh, thought so!"

She went out of the barn to get some Food, water and a few blankets. She also told her parents that there was a Soldier in their barn and that she would tend to him the rest of the day. She didn't tell them that it was a fox on purpose as they would have freaked out, as always.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, Hopps Farm,16:00 PM, 18th of June***

Nick's eyes slowly opened. He looked at his hands, which were covered in blood. Then the smell hit his nose. The smell of fresh food and the smell of Hay and a….bunny. Then hunger hit him. He felt so hungry. He didn't have food in what felt like days. Then the pain hit him. His legs felt like they were cut, stabbed and flayed. Then he remembered it all. Their plan that went wrong. They still managed to kill a lot of enemies but it still had a different result of what Nick had expected.

He started crying not caring about the smell of the Bunny that was still present. He cried his heart out as he thought he was the only survivor of it all.

"Oh Crash! You were too young to die! Finnick! How could life take my childhood friend! Nazim! How could such a brave commander die! *sob* ahhhhhh how could you *sob* all die?! HOW!?"

He then noticed that someone was touching his shoulder.

"A-are you okay?"

"DOES IT SEEM SO!? *sob"" Nick blurted out in utter shock and anger. Only then he noticed the thing that was off. Someone was talking to him. He opened his eyes and looked at Judy. His eyes were red from crying and his voice a bit creaky because of the lump in his throat.

"Oh. Sorry. I'm just…. confused….."

Then he noticed it. For a bunny she was oddly attractive, even for him. Nick never really was interested in women too much as he thought a relationship would only hinder him while he was still studying.

"D-did I die too? Is this what heaven's like?"

"N-no you're still alive" answered Judy "Why?"

"Because people say that angels are beatiful. And you are, miss…"

"Uhh- Hopps. Miss Hopps." She replied as she turned red around her cheeks and ears. "thanks for the compliment" She said with a shy smile. She wasn't really used to get a lot of compliments for her looks since her brothers didn't really show any interest in her that way and there were only ever few festivals that had other bucks come round and flirt with her.

"Well I just said what came to my mind, Miss Hopps. I'm soldier Nicholas Piberius Wilde, by the way. I was enlisted in Ironmood 3 weeks ago."

"C-can you recall anything….from last…..night?"

"Only that I was on a mission with my brothers. We were about 200. We failed miserably. The Humans decimated us all. I *sob* I think *sob* I'm the only *sob* survivor.

He started crying out loud again

"Oh god how could I leave all my brothers?! I'm a terrible Corporal! Nazim put way too much trust onto a coward like myself! *wail*"

"Now, now Corporal Wilde. I'm sure you're not a coward with the rank of a Corporal. Only brave soldiers earn that title. Shhhh, calm down my little Fox."

Judy hugged him, while Nick only curled into a ball and snuggled against Judy. After 5 minutes of calm and reassuring talking Nick finally stopped crying.

"Here have some food and water first, before you stress yourself some more. I'm sure your friends didn't die. They probably just got parted from you during the whole chaos."

Judy knew she was talking weird stuff but she tried her best to make the fox feel better for the moment.

* * *

End of chapter 7


	32. The Hunting Party

***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, Hopps Farm, 18 PM, 18** **th** **of June***

Nick and Judy had talked for quite some time of what had happened to Nick. Nick told Judy that they had planned a surprise attack against the Humans but that it failed because the Human guards weren't where they had been expecting them and that lead to one problem after another from that point on.

"And how long ago is that now?"

"I honestly don't know Judy. It feels like it happened just seconds ago but at the same time it feels distant enough to have happened a week ago. I'm completely lost in time."

"I see. I guess you want some alone time now?"

"Actually no! It feels good to have someone close, miss Hopps. At the moment you are the only one I know for sure to be alive."

"Well thanks. Do you want some more food? Or more water or some cider?"

"Uhm, a bit of food and some cider would be great, thanks! Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"No not at all, I'll bring you a towel when I come back."

"Thanks!"

Nick looked around the room and found a bucket. He poked some holes into the bottom of the bucket with his knife and hanged it up on the wall. Then he took another bucket, filled it with water and emptied it into the improvised shower head bucket. Thus his shower began.

Nick noticed something weird. He still had his uniform on.

"Oh man, now that thing's totally soaked. That's gonna be loads of fun getting back into it later"

Nick started his shower anew this time being nude and having access to his Fur to be able to clean it. After some time Nick noticed something else weird. It felt as if someone was staring holes into his back. He slowly turned his head around and noticed that Judy was standing there with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Well are you gonna keep staring or give me some privacy?"

Nick asked with a smug grin and a sly expression.

"Uhhh-uh-ehh-umm s-sorry about- uhhh- that!" Judy exclaimed and turned around with her eyes shut.

"Well can you at least tell me if you saw any wounds, or were you too busy looking at my butt?"

"Uhh-uhh-eehhmmm-well" Judy's ears turned beet red as well as her cheeks. "Th-the la-latter. I'm really sorry about th-that, Corporal!"

Judy thought to herself "But that seriously is a really sexy and cute fox butt!"

"It's no problem. All the girls at home also told me how sexy I am all the time." Nick said with a sarcastic voice that actually made himself chuckle.

That made Judy just blush all the more. She just wanted to sink into the ground right there on the spot.

"Heh you know you don't need to feel bad about it. I bet someone like you doesn't do it on purpose. Also I didn't warn you. I'm not mad at all."

"Well, thanks for at least trying to make me feel better." Judy said with a shy and shaking voice.

"Ah, don't mention it. Mind to hand me the towel?"

"Uhm sure!" Judy said holding it behind her back with one arm so Nick could take it without getting stared at. Nick took the towel and started to dry himself with it.

After he had dried himslef roughly he took a look at the towel and noticed something that was off. The towel had some red smears on it.

"Hey, were these towels already used?"

"No, why do you think so Nick?"

"Well, there's red in the towel."

Judy spun around with wide eyes and a shocked expression. She had handed him a white towel as far as she recalled. She overlooked Nick and then stopped to stare at his right thigh.

Nick followed her gaze down his body and then he saw it too. A big cut along his right thigh. From his waist almost all the way down to his knee, at least half an inch deep.

"Well that explains the exquisite pain. Anyway you mind to bring some cloth to bandage it? We should stop the bleeding before I lose too…much blood"

Nick started to stumble a bit. His vision grew blurry. He blinked a few times before the world started turning and spinning around. He started to stumble around heavily, Judy running towards him to support him but he fell over before she reached him.

"Uhh. Not good.. at all. Judy, please bandage the wound…. Before I lose much more why does this shit always happen to me?. And why does it only start hurting or showing some effects when I notice it? Like I'm in some sort of drama- story..."

Nick closed his eyes and let sleep take him once again. Judy ran out of the barn and called some sibling for help to bandage the wounded soldier in their barn.

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Human occupied side, Human Camp, 20 PM, 18** **th** **of June***

"So, the Phantom squad is on its way? As well as Skullcracker?"

"Yes, Oberkommandant, they are all on their way to come us help out fight off the mammals until the promised reinforcements arrive here."

"Hah! Excellent. The Emperor promised us 10'000 top equipped Men to finally take over Ironmood. We cannot afford to lose this city. It's an important point in our defense line and keeps the mammals away from the greatest part of our Farmlands. I don't know why the Emperor didn't inforce me and my men here way earlier."

"Well, Oberkommandant the Emperor always is greedy with manpower. He saw how great you did with only 4000 men so there was no need to send more, was there?"

"And what if I had really died in the fight against Nazim? Then this city would have fallen from that attack a week ago since you are all too dumb to shit without my plans! I'm the only one fucking clever enough to plan a proper defense and counter attack after such a surprise."

"Now, now sir. You are talented yes, but I'm sure some other Generals would have managed a defense too."

"Oh really? Tell me who? A defense against 40'000 with only barely 500 for an entire week! Tell me who. Keppler, that idiot? Goebbels, that imbecile fathat? Geringer, that retarded sack of shit? I don't get why I'm not the Staff Colonel anyways. It's obvious that my brain has 50% more capacity than any others around here! Yet the Emperor doesn't trust me. Is it because he fears that I'll overthrow him?"

"Probably, Oberkommandant. You are feared among all sides, sir. Not only Mammals fear you but Humans as well. If you would ever plan a rebellion most think it would be certain to succeed."

"And why should I try to overthrow the one who gave me so much? The Emperor enabled me to let my rage and hatred for the Mammals be felt among their lines. I love to strike fear into them and I hate them with all my heart. Had the Emperor not given me a chance I would still have to endure them while they live off society like parasites!"

"I can fully understand you, Oberkommandant! I hate them as well."

"Sir" a third voice joined the conversation. "The Phantom Squad has arrived here. Skullcracker is also awaiting an elevator to your office."

"Excellent. Let them all come in. You two leave for now. This talk is only to be heard among skilled men."

"Yes, sir" they both replied while being remembered of their position by the Oberkommandant.

The doors were opened and 7 men entered the room while 2 left it.

"Ahh good to see you all again! Phantom, Ramtin, Chester, JJ, Brothers. And... Skullcracker."

He gave them all his hand and then turned his back to them again staring out his big Office window that gave him a view towards the destroyed part of the Camp. He started talking.

"Now men, as you may have noticed our camp is in disgusting shape. That is because the mammals started a surprise attack, that succeeded because of my incompetent Guards, no worries they were all executed by myself, And the worst is, their Commander got away. He is a Wolf and his Name is Nazim. He also has an eyepatch over his left eye. If you catch him, DON'T kill him, bring him to me. The others that you'll find are free to be killed."

"Got it, Oberkommandant. Any other missions we have to attend to?"

"Not yet, no. I will tell you however when something comes to my mind. Oh also I should mention that they ran away towards the Tri-burrows instead of Ironmood that means they are easy food for you guys."

"Excellent piece of information, sir. We will start in 1 hour, after we prepared ourselves"

"Good. I want none of these furs getting away, understood?"

"That's unnecessary to name sir. We know what and how to do."

"Good. It seems like these years of service haven't changed you at all, Brothers." While naming the last word of his sentence he turned around again and faced his brothers in blood and flesh.

"I have something Father wanted you to have. It's his old Lucky charms."

"Appreciated, Oberkommandant, but we don't need luck. We rely fully on skill and cooperation."

"Still, a bit of luck never has done anyone harm. Only bad luck did so."

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Human occupied side, Human Camp, 21:15 PM, 18** **th** **of June***

All the Elite soldiers were prepared and ready to leave the camp now. They had packed several magazines for their Honey badger rifles, 2 flashbangs and Frag grenades each, their knifes/bayonets and their military rations and sleeping bags although they preferred to take the Amphetamine pills they had than sleeping.

Skullcracker being the newest member and also being a trained Raiding sniper instead of an Assault trooper packed differently. He had 30 shots for his Dragonov sniper rifle, 1 extra magazine for his 9mm Pistol, 2 butterfly knifes and some wired bombs.

They moved over to the vehicle garage and waited a few minutes until their promised transport vehicle came. It was a typical off road vehicle plated with some metal plates to give some protection.

With that vehicle they were driven out to the outer fields of the tri burrows.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, outer Fields, 21:30 PM, 18** **th** **of June***

"Alright boys it's time for us to get out and start searching those damn Fuckers."

"We won't need to search them. I think I already see their tracks. Lucky me, huh?"

"Well, JJ then go ahead and lead us to them. We've got no time to lose. The quicker we get done the better's the mood of Oberkommandant Neff is gonna be. We all know how it is when he's in a really good mood. Just ama-

Phantom got cut off by the sound of a really big Motor pushing something really big and heavy forwards. Just then a Leopard 2 Tank came into vision from behind a little hill.

"Well I bet 1 of my rations that this is Oberkommandant Neff making a big entrance once again."

"Same" repeated the others. And ,as expected, when the Leopard 2 came to a stop the hatch opened and out came Neff.

"Gottverdammi. These Tanks are way too small on the inside. It was just me and the driver and it still was really uncomfortable."

"Well Oberkommandant that's why only men under 1.80 meters are enlisted into Tank division. You are a bit too tall for that with your 1.92 meters, sir"

"Seems so. Anyway I came out here not to talk with you and drink some tea but to help with your mission. As I know Nazim he will be able to escape again in the end and I want to put him to his well deserved rest already."

The soldiers all nodded and started to walk again.

"Hey you numbskulls where are you going? You'll sit on top of this tank and then we'll make our way on through these fields."

"Sir, we appreciate this idea but they'll hear us way too early like that."

"That's right. They'll hear us and start to panic which causes them to give themselves away much easier. You would never catch them by foot. They have better hearing a better sense of smell and better eyes than us. They could easily hide and surprise you."

"Oh. Wow, sir. I didn't think of that."

"That's why I have a higher rank than you, I guess" Neff said with a stern expression. "Now get on top of here. All of you."

They all got on top of the Tank and Neff gave the driver the command to get going.

"Now this will be a fun little hunt." Neff said excited, which was unusual for his personality.

* * *

End of chapter 8


	33. Take it easy

(Disclaimer: From now on I'll name chapters after what song comes to my mind during the climax of the chapter so this chapter is named after the song 'Take it easy' by BVRNOUT. Check it out if you want to.)

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, outer Fields, 22:00 PM, 18** **th** **of June***

Oberkommandant Neff and the rest of the group were making their way through the seemingly never-ending Wheat fields on their Leopard 2 Tank. They turned on the lights of the tank as it got dark to see where they were driving.

Some of them started to sleep while others took some of those amazing Amphetamine pills to stay awake and increase their blood flow. They kept searching the wheat fields for what seems eternity until they found something very suspicious.

"Hey, Oberkommandant! Look at this! It looks like a bonfire that was lit a few minutes ago. Maybe barely an hour old."

"Very interesting. Search the area soldiers. Quickly, before they could get away!"

Chester took a flare and shot it into the sky lighting the area thoroughly.

"HEY! Over there! That looks like some Mammal walked along here…"

Chester kneeled down next to the tracks he saw. As JJ approached he looked at the tracks very interested.

"Well these do in fact look like the tracks of a Fox. They're still nearby. Care for we don't want to get surprised by them"

Oberkommandant Neff yelled from the tank:

"Oh don't worry, just get down and take some cover now!

BOOM!

He fired with the tank right into the fields and, would you look at that, 7 mammals started running away.

All the Humans were staring not prepared for the loud shot at all so they were still shocked quite a bit.

"What're y'all staring at? OPEN FIRE ALREADY!"

Nothing happened.

"OPEN FIRE! YOU IDIOTS!"

Still nothing happened.

The first one to react was Skullcracker. He took his Dragonov into both hands and aimed.

BANG

He missed. He at least thought so until the mammal he aimed for started running with a limp and finally had to slow down and came to a stop.

Oberkommandant Neff jumped down from the Tank. He started running through the tall grass and ducked down to not expose himself that he finally reached he wounded fox e grabbed him around the Neck and held him up while slightly strangling him.

"Nazim! I know you're here! If you want your little friend here to get away then come and face me!"

"Right here" said a voice from behind Neff. Neff reacted quickly and jumped to the left, dodging a quick stab from Nazim. Neff then proceeded to throw the young fox he had at Nazim, grabbed his knife walked over to them and stabbed Nazim into the chest.

He pulled out his knife and thrusted it into his chest again. And again. And again. And again.

He repeated this process about 12 times, as pure rage filled Neff. He wanted Nazim to feel the same kind of pain he felt every day because of these god forsaken metallic pieces that were welded into his flesh. Neff kept stabbing until Nazim's chest was totally covered in blood.

"Ahhh it feels so good to see life fade out of your eyes Nazim. Really, it does. HAH! Did you honestly think you'd get rid of me that easily? No, no our medicine is really far ahead of yours, you should know that. I'm still well and alive."

"Y-*cough* you won't get far. You will soon die through the hands of one of my fo*cough*llowers. I promise you that much."

"No, no. Not that easily, little Wolfie. I have more brains than you might think."

Neff pulled out a honey badger rifle and started aiming at the young fox.

"better run and tell your group that your captain won't return that soon. Oh, and better behave. If one of you guys shoots at us we're forced to keep hunting you down."

Neff watched as the young fox ran away into the dark. All his soldiers standing behind him, Rifles held at ready in case the mammals wanted to trade shots. Neff just stood there in the wheats, with his thick Officer mantle, slightly swinging in the cool breeze of the night.

He finally turned around walking towards the tank with the body of Nazim in his hands.

"keep him alive for all his worth. I need him for some information. After all he is a commander and he probably knows some precious things or two about the next moves the mammals are planning in Ironmood."

"Well sir that's kinda hard. You should have thought about that before stabbing him in the chest 12 times…."

Neff just threw an annoyed glance towards Ramtin, who had made the stupid comment.

"Just get to work already before he bleeds out. I just wanted to make him feel pain not kill him. I didn't stab any vital organs or veins. I think…"

After some minutes they were done treating Nazim and he had quite good chances of making it. Back at the camp Neff let two guards take Nazim to the prisoner cabin.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 07:00 AM, 19** **th** **of June***

Judy was washing Nick some more, since he already was almost nude except for the boxers, which were way too small because they were rabbit sized, he was wearing and after that changed the bandage around his leg. She brought some food and cider and waited until he would wake up again.

After waiting for almost an hour she called one of her brothers to look after him as she wanted to do some work and not just sit around all day, even though she had to say she was enjoying looking at that well-toned body. Nick was one of the very few foxes that had a muscular physique and that only thanks to really hard military training and a lot of discipline.

Most foxes could never reach such a physique because of their muscles being stretched over such a long body, which also had thick, coarse fur. That made it extremely hard for the muscles to be well visible.

Even if he was a fox, so far he seemed to be a nice guy and had great looks. "Oh come on girl, you can't think about a silly boy all day!" Judy thought to herself. "You probably won't get to know him too good anyways, he'll move back out as soon as he can, I bet".

Judy finally reached the carrot fields with her tools and started to get to work. She enjoyed getting her paws into the dirt and doing something. It made her feel more alive.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 09:00 AM, 19** **th** **of June***

Eyes opening slowly more and more came into view. He saw a red roof and some hay. It also felt like he was lying on some hay.

"Wait where am I?"

"You're at my Family's farm, the Hopps Farm, in bunnyborrow." A squeaky voice returned.

Nick jumped and crawled away backwards in panic.

"WHOA HE-HEY I DON'T KNOW YOU I DON'T WANT ANY PROBLEMS! WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY?"

The young bunny just started to laugh at Nick.

"Don't worry Mr. Fox I won't hurt you! After all I'm just a bunny."

"Oh god you almost gave me a heart attack! Anyway-" Nick took back his calm and sly attitude "You're Judy's little brother I guess? Do you happen to know where she is?"

"Yeah she is in the Carrot fields. She told me that I should watch over you- Oh I just remembered now. She told me that you're a soldier! I bet it's cool to fight those mean Humans with your cool Rifles and friends, right?"

"You see, war is more complex than just running around and shooting your enemies. You have to be extremely careful and even then it's still a matter of luck if you or the mammal next to you gets shot. You know, war is something really horrible. Sadly a lot of young boys, just like you, see it as a cool and fun little game. Well it isn't. You will lose a lot of your friends and…loved ones."

"hmph. Anyway Judy told me I should give you….that" The young rabbit said as he placed the food and cider next to Nick and continued talking "when you wake up. I hope you're gonna enjoy it! Our cider is one of the best among the tri-burrows"

"Yeah it would seem so. I had a taste of it…..yesterday I think. It's really the best I have ever tasted. Say, Judy is in the fields working, right?" Nick asked as he started to eat the food. Some delicious fresh bread with some different vegetables and some pear

"Yes. At least she told me so. I don't know where she really is. Maybe she is in the fields or maybe she is doing 'grown-up-girl' things again in her room like yesterday."

"Okay thanks. I'll check the fields for her before leaving. Wait. What did you say? Grown-up-girl things? And what would that be?"

"I don't know either but she always locks her door and comes out an hour later looking quite reliefed."

"Aha. I see. You mind if I…. get into my OWN clothes again? These underpants are REALLY tight around my….special area."

"No worries. You can just dress yourself right here. It's not like I haven't seen male genitals before. That's natural as a rabbit with that many brothers and having to share rooms that at some point you see someone else's"

"I guess so" Nick said as he was getting uncomfortable with the conversation.

"So, kid. You wanna see me shooting some really bad Humans?"

"YES!"

"okay then go outside and just wait for me, okay? Oh and don't forget to close your eyes."

"Okay!"

The little rabbit left the barn and waited patiently outside as Nick got dressed and went out at the backside of the barn to avoid the rabbit. He looked for the carrot fields and spotted them some time later. He started walking towards them with a limp, but he was determined to at least say goodbye to the rabbit that had helped him. He knew it was hard for Rabbits to overcome their natural fear of foxes so he appreciated it all the more.

After some time he reached the fields and spotted Judy, luckily being close to him. He sarted walking again and stopped once he was behind Judy. 'Damn for a rabbit she really is darn attractive' Nick thought as he was studying her backside.

"Ahem. Miss Hopps?"

"Y-yeah?" Judy turned around and saw Nick. "Oh Nick! I'm glad you're back up again!"

"Uh- yeah about that. I'm here to say goodbye. And also thanks a lot for treating and feeding me. I know it was hard for you to overcome the fear of a fox and help me like an equal to you. Thanks for that."

"Uh- it's no problem, but you're already planning to leave?" Judy asked sad about the fact that he already wanted to leave.

"Yes Ma'am. I'm already gone since a whole week and I really need to catch up with the war and my friends again. That is if they are still…alive" Nick said with a sad tone to his voice.

"But are you sure? I mean your leg is still hurt badly. You can barely walk." Judy tried to convince him to stay a little longer, if not for him then for her.

"Ah nonsense you're talking, miss. I can walk just fine. I made it over here to you, I will make it to Ironmood as well."

"Corporal Wilde, these tracks are completely incomparable. One of these roads is 100 meters while the other is a bit more than 12 miles!"

"That doesn't make a difference to a determined soldier, miss! I need to get back to my brothers! They really need me! Ironmood could fall any moment!"

"Even if so, I hardly believe that you will make a difference! Except if you are some kind of super natural soldier that can defeat 100 enemies without getting a scratch."

"Are you questioning my skills as a soldier?" Nick asked with a fake shocked expression and a hurt voice.

"Maybe" Judy replied with a smug grin.

"You are too cruel, Miss Hopps" Nick replied and pretended to faint at any moment. As he played the scene he noticed the sharp pain in his leg and wanted to straighten his legs again but it was already too late. He fell over right onto Judy.

With his arms on each side of her and his Body over hers he looked into her eyes.

"Uhm well yeah. You DO have pretty eyes, Miss hopps. A very exotic colour by the way."

"Uhm Likewise, Corporal" Judy replied a bit embarrassed as she blushed madly. Nick kept staring, lost in her beatiful eyes.

"So, any chance you're gonna let me up soon?" Judy asked a bit nervous. Nick just noticed then that he was staring.

"Oh uhm yes of course, miss! Sorry for that I got lost in….thoughts. Yeah I got lost in thoughts." Nick lied.

"Mhmm. Were these thoughts about me by any chance?" Judy teased Nick.

'Oh come on, stop teasing him. He's a lonely soldier that probably didn't do anything proper with a lady for months. No wonder he's getting distracted easily!' Judy thought to herself.

"Uh- well. Kind of. Anyway, I need to get going. Honestly. The time with you was great though, miss Hopps!"

"No you won't leave you silly fox! You're gonna stay for today evening, because we're having a huge festival. And I want you to stay for it, to enjoy yourself for a bit in-between all this brutal fighting!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Nick asked in a shocked tone. "You can't keep me here! I'm sorry but there's no way I'm gonna stay even longer!"

"Why not? Do you want to get killed that badly?! Are you really too dumb to see that you're too hurt to fight on? I don't think so since you seem rather clever, especially since you're a fox!"

"Why do you care about me that much anyway? I'm just some stranger to you! You act like I'm your boyfriend!" Nick replied as that bunny was getting on his nerves.

That last thing he said was a shot in the dark that made her snap. Out of the blue Judy slapped him.

"You idiot, you! Rarely anyone has managed to provoke me like that in such a short time like you have." She said with an angry voice

"What did you hit me for? Do I mat-" Nick was cut off as the bunny kissed him delicately. He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the moment for all it's worth ignoring the slight taste of blood in his mouth from the slap.

"And at the same time, make me fall in love that madly." Judy said with a soft voice.

"Uhm, that came out of nowhere, miss Hopps. Are you su-" Nick was cut off again the same way he was cut off the first time. This time Nick slowly kneeled down to make it more comfortable for the both of them since Judy had to tiptoe and he had to stretch his head down. He again closed his eyes and slowly but eagerly urged the kiss on until his lungs were begging for air. As they parted they both had to take several deep, long breaths to get some oxygen into their blood again.

"Alright I'm starting to like that. A lot. Come here, bunny!" He said as he threw his arms around her, hugged her tightly, moved her closer to himself and kissed her again. He just enjoyed the feeling of all the hormones cursing through his veins from the kiss esecially since it had been so long since his last kiss. He didn't have a girlfriend at home but since he was a nice guy and also clever he did get his share of girls.

As a soft breeze rolled over the plateau that made the leaves of the carrots rustle in the wind and cooled the both down a bit he eased off the kiss and again sucked in the air greedily and made a soft sigh. The clouds opened up a bit and revealed a beautiful blue sky and a perfect yellow sun that instantly gave off some warmth. Nick and Judy looked each other in the eyes and enjoyed the moment to its fullest.

"How perfect that weather is on our side to make it even more romantic..."

"Yeah. So I guess you're gonna stay after all?"

"I guess so" Nick said with a soft voice and soft eyes as he looked at Judy sweetly. Another breeze rolled through the fields, this time one a bit stronger that made the leaves of nearby trees rustle as well as cooling them down a bit. They both looked into the beautiful, blue sky and enjoyed the feeling of each others company.

Judy had never before experienced real love, so for her it felt like every second lasted at least 4 seconds. She just was so happy that this had happened between her and him. Nick has also only rarely kissed before, and certainly not a rabbit but he had to admit that it felt quite good. Especially since he was on break from such things for more than 6 weeks by now. All his sexual desires were getting bottled up inside of him so he didn't really care what he kissed, just that he kissed.

After a few wonderful moments of absorbing the whole event Nick cleared his throat and got up again, looking Judy in the face while she was also looking at him with a soft expression.

"Well, Miss Hopps-" Nick came to a stop when he saw the outraged expression on her face.

"Don't call me 'Miss Hopps' after such an action between the two of us, you dork!"

"Sorry, what I meant was, well, Judy, can you tell me where I can stay until today evening's festival?"

"Well you can stay in our house. You can also go take a proper shower in my family's house and also eat something, however I should tell you that it's better if you only wander around with me near you, since my parents tend to overreact if the fellow mammal is a fox."

"Well, I can kind of understand them. I mean foxes never really got along with bunnies. That is, until I met you." Nick's voice once again growing soft.

"Why are you smiling like that, Nick? Did I do something?"

"Yeah, you did. You did something wonderful. You showed me that I'm still alive. Since several weeks I finally feel like life can bring good too, not only direness and withering."

Those words made Judy go silent for a few moments. She looked into Nick's eyes and instantly saw that he was telling the truth. That what he had seen would make the rabbit go insane, but he just manned his way through it and tried to act like it never happened. He had bottled it all up until the morning he awoke in her barn.

That was the day he let it all out, and with her being there, caring for him, understanding him just made him feel that much more alive. It made him feel like he got purified from it. Like she took all his pain and sorrow, crumbled it up, threw it away and replaced it with love. With love for the bunny who had given him hope in his most dire situation.

"Thank you Judy." Nick suddenly started the conversation again.

"What for?"

"For giving me hope again. When I arrived here it was out of pure desolation. I had nothing left. Even hope itself had abandoned me. You gave me back hope and something that is more valuable than anything else, love."

"Well, I just couldn't help falling in love with you either, even though it's just been a day. You were looking so cute, like you really needed someone close to you and after all I found you to be a rather sexy fox. I think seeing your butt didn't help either in changing my mind in that aspect."

"Heh, so you wanna tell me that you're only after my butt?" Nick asked with his standard smug grin and overall sly look.

"Maybe" answered Judy with a smile, but it wasn't a sly smile this time, it was much more honest and wholeheartedly.

Nick just couldn't help but come into temptation to kiss that sweet bunny again, and so he did. He lifted her up into his arms, his hands under her thighs and let her wrap her arms around his neck and started kissing her again. It felt wonderful to have someone to share his feelings and worries with and to share his love with.

For Judy it was the same. It felt wonderful to just have someone to hold on to. Nick gave her an insight of how brutal warreally is. It's even way worse than she had imagined it to be. Nick had opened her eyes and made clear that this war had to end way sooner than it really would.

* * *

End of chapter 9


	34. Love and Pain

(Disclaimer: This chapter had to go through dozens of changes since it would've been way too long if I kept the original idea. The song used for this chapter's title is called 'Pain' by Ship Wrek (NCS release) enjoy reading and remember to give feedback!

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 22:00 PM, 18th of June***

The group of the remaining Mammals from the attack that failed about a week ago have been walking for days. They have been wandering the nearly endless fields in hopes of finding Nick if he still was alive but they soon had to give up on that since they now had to fear for their own lives. They all were tired had the constant fear in the back of their head of bumping into a Human patrol, which just happened a mere 30 minutes ago, and their morale was low.

The Humans that had found them luckily went easy on them but they had to let go of Nazim to get away. There was no way they would fight against such prepared Humans that even had a Tank as support.

"I still can't believe that they got Chainbreaker so easily. It just feels surreal, I mean he is something like a legend among our lines and now he's just gone!" said Goliath who was still very worried about his commander.

"Well, we can't always save everyone, sometimes we just have to let go of someone. Nazim sacrificed himself so we could get away, right Crash?" asked Apollo.

"Well, that's not exactly how he had planned it I think. His intentions were much rather to kill that crazed, metallic Human. But he failed to do so and now the Humans got him. At least he died a quick death I think. That Brutal bastard stabbed our commander about 12 times right into the chest." Crash just couldn't help but become even more sad thinking about the death of his commander. Sure he barely knew him but he was a great leading personality and a brave soldier for sure.

"Well at least we got away, and maybe we'll find Nick as well, who knows?" He answered as Zack tried to be optimistic.

"If we wanna do that." Said Finnick with a grumpy tone, as he joined into the conversation "we'll most certainly find him in a barn somewhere. Trust me, I know that moron since I'm 8 and he for sure always goes to people, no matter if the area could be dangerous or not. That's just his idiotic nature."

"Well I trust Finnick, I mean he's gotta know, right? Nobody knows our missing man like he does." Said Apollo as the rest approved with him. Their morale got a bit higher again as they now at least knew where to search. They all were just wondering why Finnick didn't tell them earlier.

As they kept walking for pretty much half of the night someone had the idea of sleeping until dawn to feel fresher and get some energy. And as most of them knew that sleeping regularly was the best way to keep the mood and morale up a bit they didn't have any objections to that idea so they went to sleep in the middle of giant wheat fields.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 09:00 AM, 19th of June***

"Rise and shine boys! We've gotta start moving again! We can't sleep forever otherwise we will miss out on a beautiful morning stroll." Zack said, trying to be optimistic although his sarcastic voice gave him away. He didn't want to keep walking just like the rest of them but they had to. To bring back Nick, they're momentary commander, that is if he still was alive.

The group started with breakfast after packing together their sleeping bags and during breakfast did some small talking about how they thought the weather is gonna be, where they're gonna go today and where they thought they would find Nick and whether or not he still was alive. That was pretty much the hot topic during breakfast. It even went as far as some of the soldiers making bets on whether or not he was alive.

"Heh, well I'll bet 300 bucks that he still is well and alive. Nick was always a lucky fucker and together with his wit and charm he can lull anybody into helping him, even his dead ancestors." Finnick mentioned.

"Ohh, you're quite sure about your wonder-boy huh? Well I won't chicken out! 100 that we won't find him happily breathing in a barn." Apollo retorted.

"Well, you can give him these 100 bucks already now, friend. Finnick's never wrong as far as I know. He's known for hustling all the grand casinos in my home-town." Goliath joined into the conversation. "And he knows that fox for a really long time already" he added with a smug voice and a smile twisting his lips.

The troop got into motion once they all had eaten some breakfast they've cooked in their pans. That breakfast included an MRE ration that had some vegetable stew, some crackers with Jam, a bit of coffee or tea, depending on the choice of the soldier, and a piece of chewing gum.

They probably made something about 10 kilometers per hour, which was quite fast considering they were walking under a hot summer sun, with something about 20 kilos (c.a. 40 pounds) of equipment and that through tall grown wheat.

After some time they started to sing random songs that popped into their minds to keep up the morale and a good mood. It helped a surprising lot as they at once got motivated to walk a bit faster and were willing to do a bit more to find their lost commander.

After something like 4 hours of walking they found a barn behind a small hill. They decided to go check it out. After something like 5 minutes of walking hastily they reached the barn and fond it to be a rather large village. To be exact a burrow. A bunny burrow.

The bunnies all looked suspiciously and accusing into their direction until Goliath just blurted out with: "WHAT? You never seen a darn pred before? I can tell you that we're not here to eat you. We're here because we're searching our commander which, by any chance, one of you might have seen? He's about 4 foot tall and has red fur with a cream furred face, green eyes. Anyone seen him?"

A smaller bunny with a gray fur and white stripes on the side of his face and ears came a bit closer to them and started to talk with Jamie.

"Well, I didn't see him in person, but I think the fox you're searching isn't far from here. The Hopps family recently found a wounded soldier in their barn and word has spread that it's a fox with the rank of a lieutenant. Jack told me that he has seen him in person and also talked with him already."

"Do you know his name by any chance, little guy?"

"No, Jack only told me that he is a really fascinating guy that really shot some evil Humans already. That's so cool! I wanna be a hero just like him some day too!"

"Well, hero is a bit extreme but he sure is an inspiration and a brave soldier. Anyways you said something about…. Hopps? Can you tell us in which direction we'll have to walk to find that family?"

"Sure you just have to walk 8 miles in this direction!" The young bunny said as he pointed to the north-west.

"thanks a lot, buddy. Remember to stay brave and protect your family against those mean Humans. Oh, here have a souvenir from me." Goliath said as he handed the small bunny a single bullet.

"But only look at it. Don't play around with it, that is a very dangerous thing. Promise me."

"Promised!" The young bunny almost shouted with an exited voice. The bunny started hopping around and made a run to the house where he probably showed it to his brothers and sisters.

"Alright let's get out of here before all his siblings come flooding towards us, or else we'll have to fight the Humans with sticks and stones."

"Good Idea"

"No objection there"

The troop started walking again towards the north-east. After about 50 minutes of walking they reached another village.

"Alright that should be it, huh? Well let's find some resident to talk to." Said Goliath.

"Well, I just hope this is the right village because I don't want to keep dragging Crash around!" replied Zack with a tired and slightly annoyed tone.

Since Crash was shot in the leg he couldn't walk that good and had to get dragged around by Goliath and Zack so he doesn't have to overuse his wounded leg. The worst thing would be if it would get inflammation in hid leg.

After about 2 minutes they found quite a few bunnies working on carrot fields and plenty other things, like chopping firewood for the winter, others were picking pears and apples from trees again others were cutting down wheat while their siblings were grinding it into flour to probably make bread from it.

Apollo lead the group towards some bunnies working in the fields and gently asked the closest one:

"Excuse me. Is this the Hopps farm? We're here because we're searching our general. We lost him about a week ago and are here in because we heard that there is a wounded soldier here. Could it be possible that this soldier is a red fox with the rank of a lieutenant and listens to the name of Nicholas Wilde?"

"Honestly, I only know half of these things you just asked me. Lad" Said the rabbit as he slowly took his gaze from the carrots he was picking to look at Apollo. The rabbit twitched a bit when he saw that Apollo was an Arctic fox. He quickly got himself together though and quenched his reflexes to run.

"I do know for certain that we have a wounded soldier here, and that he arrived almost a week ago here. Don't know his name or rank however Judy will probably know. She's one of my elder sisters and she cared for him. She's probably in the barn over there" The rabbit said as he pointed at a red barn to the west.

"And if not, you'll have t' ask 'round. She for sure is near your wounded comrade, that's for sure so if you'll find her you'll find him, if our man is really the one you're searchin' lads. Best of luck t' y'all." The fellow mammal said with a kind tone to his voice and got back to working after nodding to them.

"Alright, thanks a lot for the help." Apollo replied. "Okay boys, you heard him. I'll go search the barn for him, you guys go ask around. If anyone finds him just come to the barn. That'll be our meeting point for now."

"Okay 'captain' " replied Zack with a sarcastic voice and a smug grin as he rolled his eyes around in his skull.

"Hey, at least I'm TRYING to lead us, unlike some other white-furred douche who's just joking around."

"HEY! I carried around our wounded rookie! At least I'm useful to the group!"

"Oh, and a leading personality isn't!?" Apollo replied taken aback by the rudeness of Zack.

"Both of you shut it, before I mash your pea-sized brains." Goliath retorted annoyed about the bitching of the two. "An argument won't bring us any further at the moment. Dammit we're brothers in arms! Then also act like it! Please, guys show that you're mature, grown up men and not some retarded kindergarten children that have an argument over who stole who's pen!"

"Yeah, he's right. For once in your lives, safe the bitching up for the enemy. We have to act and work like one family, otherwise we won't be getting far. Neither in personal life nor in war. Only if we support each other we have a chance to survive this damn hell on earth." The elsewise so quiet Finnick said as he joined in on the discussion. His grumpy nature and bad mood made it clear that we wasn't going to accept a no to this statement he just made.

"Now get your thumbs out of yer asses n' start asking for that Judy bunny. Go!" Finnick said as he took control over the group. Apollo just accepted that as he didn't want to set up Finnick. As small as he might be he sure was one tough guy.

After asking all sorts of bunnies in the burrow and on the fields Tristan, the only raccoon in the group, found a certain Alex that knew the location of Judy. Alex was a quite young rabbit, but not a kid anymore.

"So, Alex, can you lead me to Judy?"

"Sure can. So, um, you guys came all the way from Ironmood over here, just to retrieve you Commander? He must be one hell of a leader in that case."

"Well, we don't know about that for sure. You see our last leader just got killed in a failed mission, so we have to get the second in command, the fox you guys have here, to get a new commander because elsewise we can't decide on a leader for our group, you see?"

"Well, you could just vote a new leader but whatever, I guess you can use every single man in your lines, so yeah, that makes sense." The young rabbit replied.

"So, have you shot any Humans yet? I mean not that it's cool to take someone else's life but…. Yeah, have you shot any up to now?"

"Yeah, several even. Trust me it's a gruesome experience the first few times. But you'll get used to it eventually. At the end of the day you killed him to save someone else so the balance of the scale is still the same."

"I guess so. Well anyway we're here. Right in there they should be." Alex said as he pointed at the door of Judy's room. "Just knock and ask to if you can enter."

"Okay. Thanks for helping." Tristan said in a kind voice and a neat smile.

Tristan knocked at the door a few times and waited to hear a response. After a few seconds he heard a female voice.

"Just a second! I'm still caring after Nick."

"Yes, about that" Judy's ears perked up at the unfamiliar voice while Nick's ears, who was laying on the bed, also perked up but for the opposite reason. He knew that voice from somewhere, though he had only heard it a few times. Then it came back to his mind. It had to be that quiet raccoon that was in his group during the mission they hab planned.

"Go open the door! That's Tristan! My friends! My soldiers! My fellow comrades! THEY'RE STILL ALIVE!" Nick cried out in overwhelmed happiness. As Judy opened the door and indeed Tristan entered the room Nick couldn't help but let tears of happiness roll down his cheeks.

"Oh my god. I thought you all to be dead! How many of you are still alive? Is Finnick okay?"

"Yes, sir Finnick and the rest are all good."

"Who exactly is 'the rest' if I may ask? How many are we?" Nick asked in an uncertain voice.

"Well, with you sir we are seven at the moment. The rest of us got either mercilessly killed or was taken prisoners. Also we lost Nazim, that's why we went through all that effort to find you sir. We need a new leader."

"What? What happened to Nazim? Tell me!" Nick almost screamed in a worried tone.

"Well, sir. There were Humans. In the middle of the night they came out of nowhere." Tristan started with a concerned expression on his face as he watched for the reaction Nick would show. "We tried to hide but they fired right at us with a tank and when we tried to run Crash got shot in the leg. A wicked Human with metal welded into his flesh tried to take Crash with him. Nazim sacrificed himself for Crash."

"Damnit! I knew that this rookie isn't fit for war! FUCK! Because of him we lost Nazim!"

"Sir, please. Crash isn't at fault. It could have just as well hit me, or Jamie, or even Finnick. Our commander did what was right and noble. He gave his life for that of his soldier."

Nick started to cry with his face buried in his paws. He started to sob uncontrollably.

"All this….. this murdering. It's destroying so many lives. Not only these of the killed ones, but also their families. I… I just can't take this anymore! I'm not fit for a leader!"

"Now, now Nick. We already had that talk didn't we?" Judy said as she pat his back and tried to comfort him. "You sure are a brave mammal. Not many would be able to take command of a group this early after getting introduced to combat, right?" Judy looked at Tristan and made a sign with her head as she awaited his support to comfort Nick.

"Y-yeah! Not even Finnick dared to take control of our group. Apollo had to do so because elsewise we would've been wandering anywhere but not here. Sir, please. Don't give up on yourself, if not for you, then for us, sir." Tristan said as he kneeled down in front of Nick and bowed his head to show respect.

Tristan took off his helmet and revealed thin, short razed fur on the top of his head.

"We need you now more than ever, sir and if you don't lead us, nobody will. And without a leader, we are just lost souls wandering through hell on earth, so please sir, I beg you, don't give up." Tristan said in a voice that was almost healing to Nick. He stopped crying and slowly let his gaze wander up the body of Tristan until he met the face of him.

"Alright, but don't blame me if we all die." Nick said with a small, sad smile on his lips.

"Trust me sir, I won't. I'd first blame the Humans for it, then me and only then I'd start questioning you, sir" Tristan said with a relieved voice and a happy expression.

"Now come on, sir we still have to tell the others. We have to return as soon as you and Crash are back to full strength."

"Oh don't worry about that. We'll stay for today evening for sure and probably also for tomorrow noon." Nick said with a knowing smile and a happy voice as he washed the tears out of his face with the sleeve of his uniform.

"And why's that sir? What's the smile for?" Tristan asked confused as he switched sights between Judy and Nick.

"Well, today evening is a festival and most boys and girls are out to spend a high quality night with someone. That means you boys can get some relief today evening, as there won't only be bunnies but pretty much all species." Nick smiled a really lewd smile towards Judy

"But I think I already found my 'partner', and she's beautiful I have to say"

Judy blushed and punched Nick in the shoulder.

"Nick you pervert idiot! Don't go 'round telling everyone! Or my parents will freak out at the thought of me being with a fox. A sexy, clever, and sly fox that is."

"Hehehe, I never knew you liked guys that are tricky." Nick said with an innocent smile.

Judy just shook her head and grinned at the fox behaving like a kit at the moment.

"You know for such a tough boy you really have extreme mood swings. First you cry your soul out then you're as happy as ever."

"Well, I just found out that my squad is still alive and fresh and are going to join us in the festival today evening. Plus is there any reason to not be happy with a girl like you around?"

Judy pretended to be thinking with a fake puzzled expression and then said:

"No. No I don't think so." She said with a smug smile and an adorably sweet look in her eyes.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 18:00 PM, 19th of June***

In the evening, as Nick and Judy got out of their room, nicely groomed and made fresh, everything was already set and prepared for the festival and the soldiers that had helped with preparing had also made themselves fresh, that meant showering, which felt godly after not being able to do so in almost 2 weeks, washing out their uniform a bit and straightening out their fur and their hairstyle.

More and more mammals of all sorts of species started to arrive. Males and Females alike. Most soldiers were getting engaged in a conversation with some female of their likings as they were quite an attraction with their uniforms. I mean after all, they were soldiers and put their lives on the line for all of them. That was a really attractive bonus together with their military-trained bodies and matured personalities it almost ensured them to get the attention of some women.

After about 30 minutes all of the soldiers had accommodated themselves with a fine female and prepared for a fun night. Goliath even had two girls at once, each of the girls holding one of his arms. The girls turned out to be twins and they were attracted to tall and strong guys like Jamie.

There were tons of food and different drinks on several large tables and there were lanterns hanged onto strings that were stretched between trees to light up the area. All in all it was a really comfy atmosphere and a lot of kind and friendly people to talk to. A perfect opportunity for the soldiers to forget about their war and the tragic loss they just made a few days ago.

After eating his belly full and watching the sky together with Judy, Nick asked her for a dance as some of Judy's siblings started to play some music on a few simple instruments. Judy was surprised at how good Nick could dance even though having a hurt leg.

"Well you know, Carrots, back at high school I used to be a really good dancer. People called me 'Nonstop' because I would surprise them with new smooth moves everyday."

"Wow, really? That's amazing. It's really impressive you can dance so well with just one good leg. Honestly I've never seen anyone dance like you before."

"Well it's kind of my self-invented style. I call it Animate dance because it looks like you're reanimating some of the old dance moves over and over again into a more flowing, liquid like style."

"Well I really like this kind of dancing. It looks really cool when you do it. I bet it's really hard to learn that."

"Yeah, it takes some practice but once you've got it figured out it's really easy to do and it amazes people around you easily."

"Certainly" Judy said dreamily as she remembered the collapse move Nick had done. He wasn't able to get back up though because of his leg, but still the smooth way he made it down to the ground was good enough.

"Nick?"

"Yes, Judy? What is it sweetheart?"

"We are, well, a couple since today morning, right?"

"Yes. I mean as long as you're okay with it…"

"I am! That's not what I meant. What I meant was, even though we're a couple now we barely know anything about each other's past. Do you mind telling me?"

"Well, if you want me to I guess I can. I was born in a small village that had a lot of canine residents, mainly foxes at that, and My parents were quite happy and could provide me a good childhood, until the age of 9, when my Father left us. He just disappeared and never returned. Later my brother and I went to high school and after that war broke out. My brother went to war and I started studying at the Zootopia university. After 6 months though a letter reached me and mom. My brother went missing, probably killed or used as a slave by those damned Humans. That was the day I promised that I'll find my brother, alive or dead, and if he is dead I will let those Humans feel my rage and sorrow. And to make things worse," Nick had to take in a deep, shaky breath and a tear formed in his eye "my mother was killed just a few days after I left for the academy. She was about to get evacuated but the civil defense was too slow. The Humans got her." Nick finished shaking a bit and almost starting to cry again.

"Oh my. You have a way worse past than I would have ever expected. I'm so sorry"

"Don't be. It's not your fault. It's the fault of the Humans and our government that provoked the Humans into a war. And past is past, you can't change it. No amount of tears of sorrow will ever make it undone. We just have to get over it and don't look back in sadness but in happiness at what once has been. And since oyu now know my past, we can talk about it together and solve the problems I might experience in future as one."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. You know for such a young man you're really wise. What did you study anyway?"

"I was studying economy and was hoping to one day become a great banker. That dream bubble popped however when war broke out, I guess. I'm on the best way to become a man known for countless murders without even flinching."

"Don't think of it that way. I'm very sure that if you wouldn't kill those Humans they'd kill you. And anyway you are way too kind to kill innocents."

"Hah, really now? Is that so?" Nick asked Judy teasing her a bit over her naïve attitude.

"Oh, cut it out Nick. You can be so sweet, romantic and emotional one moment and the next second you can be such a mischievous dork."

"Better get used to it, baby" Nick said with a seductive voice as he went in to kiss Judy and wrapped his arms around her waist. He then laid down on his back with Judy on top of him looking at the beautiful star-filled sky.

"Just beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah"

"But nowhere near as beautiful as you are, hun-bun" Nick said with a sweet voice and kissed the top of her head.

"What do you say about us dancing another round and then going somewhere more private, just like the rest of your boys, huh?"

"Not a bad idea at all, sweetie"

So they danced again together in a slow, relaxed rhythm to the music and after about 10 minutes of that they grabbed another drink, something to bite and then vanished in Judy's room. There they did more private things though not as lewd as most of his soldiers did. After all Nick had a serious relationship built up, at least in his eyes, and not just a one-night adventure.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 10:00 AM, 20th of June***

After a good night's sleep the fox slowly got out of bed, instinctively walking to the right, where his bathroom used to be, straight into a wall. When he bumped into it he opened his eyes irritated about the fact that the first activity of his day was to hit his sensitive nose. He looked around the room and spotted the bathroom.

The door was closed so he knocked on it first.

"Judy, you in there?"

No response.

"Hm, well then I guess it's free to use."

He entered the bathroom and started to brush his teeth without thinking. 2 minutes in he noticed that he never brought a toothbrush with him. He stopped in shock as the blood in his veins froze. 'Oh shit no!' was the first thing that crossed his mind. He took the toothbrush out of his mouth and loked at it. At least the name said "Judy" which relieved the Tod a bit.

'Phew close one. Could've just as well been the one of some sibling from her.'

Judy entered the bathroom as well now and stopped walking at the sight in front of her. She cracked up grinning and tried her best to keep from laughing but to no avail as she started to giggle like an excited schoolgirl. Nick just stood there and let the shame rain over him with an annoyed and sad expression.

"Well, Nick see the positive thing in it, you basically kissed me now for the morning."

"Har-har. Very funny Carrots. Just wait till you slip up, I'll rub it in your face just as well as you did."

"ah-ahww Nicky, is someone mad?" she said as she tried to calm down from all the giggling.

"Not mad, just annoyed. Just because I wanna keep my teeth clean I get laughed at. Well enjoy the taste of meat that's on your toothbrush now." Nick said with a sly grin that Judy couldn't see.

"WHAT?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Nope, but hey see the positive thing in it, now you've always got a reminder of me when you brush your teeth, right?"

"Oh har-har, Nick. Come on now are you serious?"

"Of course not. I never ate meat in my whole life before. Well except for Chicken and fish. Other meats are just some synthetic protein mixes. So no, you won't have to taste meat from now on while brushing your teeth, I just allowed myself a little joke as revenge for you laughing at me." Nick said with a giddy voice and a really satisfied smile on his muzzle.

Judy made a growling sound, which was ridiculously funny for Nick to hear from a bunny, because she was annoyed by him.

"Well, sorry Carrots but nobody messes with me and gets away without paying. Anyway you mind if I relief my bladder now?"

"No, go ahead, help yourself. I think I'll brush my teeth now…. with the proper toothbrush unlike some other mammals around here"

Under her breath she kept whispering but Nick was too concerned with peeing to care about what she was saying.

"Oh come on, you're not mad at me now are you?"

"No not really, but still I expect an apology from you."

"Well I'll think of something for sure, trust me."

After their bathroom break they both got out of Judy's room and ate some breakfast. Nick packed some food up for when he was travelling with his men again, because why not? That food was at least 10 times better than the 'food' they had with them. Nich happily walked around the farm in the cool noon air and enjoyed the fresh air of the land. Also a sideeffect that came with this fresh air was that his sense of smell wasn't as dull anymore as it before was becasue of the constant smell of rooten flesh and other disgusting things. He also loved the blue, slightly cloud filled sky and the soft sunbeams that were shining down. All in all he could imagine to stay here after the war was over and done with. He just hoped that he survived it all. As the morning went on he tried to enjoy his remaining time here with Judy as much as he could, that was doing activities like swiming in a nearby lake or just walking around the beatiful planes while the sun was shining and talking with her. He hated himself for it but he soon had to leave that wonderful bunny to go back to war and possibly leave her alone for the rest of her live. Nick was slightly worried about that fact but he knew if he wanted it enough, he would return back to her in one piece.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 14:00 PM, 20th of June***

"Bye-bye Judy. The time here was wonderful and I'll surely come by some when again but now I have to leave with my brothers. Don't worry I'll keep writing you letters updating you about my health and such things. Be save and care for you and your family, okay? Nick said with a slightly sad tone that he tried to hide away.

"Sure." Judy answered with a down voice. "Please Nick, promise me that you'll be safe." she kept going though she now had to struggle with her shaky breathing. "I need you, Nick. You can't just die now that I've finally found someone that's perfect for me" Judy said as she let her head fall into his chest and silently started crying into it. Nick kneeled down to be able to take her head into his chest better as he looked at Judy softly. He hugged her tightly and let her cry everything out she had. He also let go of a few tears while his men were all standing behind him seeing what it meant to love and be loved.

"Now, now carrots" Nick said with an understanding voice. "I'm sure you'll survive the time without me."

A few soldiers of his squad pat his back and showed full understanding of the romance he had built up with the bunny.

"I promise you carrots, I will come back in one piece. I promise by the fur of all my ancestors that I won't leave such a beautiful being as you alone. I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise."

Nick stood up and tried to absorb her beatiful looks. Even when she cried she was still so very beautiful. He tried to soak in her face with his eyes to remember it as good as he could before he left. He then let go of his bunny and turned around walking away with his head held down. He was fighting hard with himself on the inside and had to struggle to keep going. After a few meters he turned around to take one last glance at the beautiful girl that has stolen his heart in a mere day and her beautiful idyllic home. He waved her a kiss and then turned around again walking into the distance with his brothers in arms, until he vanished behind a hill.

* * *

End of chapter 10

(Notes: Yes in this chapter nick called himself 'Nonstop'. Thjat is a reference to the amazing Dubstep / Animate dancer 'NONSTOP'. Check that guy out sometime, he's just breathtaking. Peace!)


	35. With you, sir

(This chapter's title is dedicated to the song 'With you' by Marin Hoxha and Chris Linton (NCS release). These guys are heavily underrated so please go check them out as they are both super amazing artists. Peace out and Enjoy reading!)

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Human camp, 15:00 PM, 20th of June***

"Well soldiers" Neff started with his newest trophy in his hands "we got what we all came for."

"We actually only got one, sir" JJ noted quickly

"I'd rather NOT be interrupted, soldier. Anyway we got what I wanted. You are now relieved from duty over here. You can all return to your posts, that means Phantom, you and your squad will return back behind enemy lines and Skullcracker, you can decide whether or not you're gonna stick around them or go back into the fields to catch any mammals out there."

"It'd be my pleasure to keep watching the fields, sir" Jordan replied with a hard but calm voice.

"Yes, you don't need to tell me, you've gotta tell these guys over here" Neff said with a demanding voice as he pointed to the Phantom squad.

"Actually soldiers, before you leave I wanna test a new prototype of weapon with you on some prisoners we made about a week ago. Our newest rifles have been delivered here today and tomorrow the promised soldiers will arrive here, which is the reason I'm letting you go back to your original services. These weapons include normal bullets but they can also fire a special caliber which is poisoned and will cause extreme nausea and sickness and eventually death."

"Alright then show us where they are, sir. My fingers are really itching to shoot something again." Said JJ with an evil and hateful voice as he watched the wolf in Neff's hand with disgust.

"HEY! Don't look at him that greedily. This wolf here" the Oberkommandant said as he held up the wolf for all to see "is MY trophy and mine alone. Get your own test subjects from the prison cells if you really need one."

"What else are we supposed to shoot? Target plates? That ain't no fun at all, 'cause they don't scream with agony when you shoot them 'till they beg for death." JJ replied as he still looked at Nazim with disgrace.

"Sometimes you almost show as much hate as me, Jack" Neff said as his lips curled into a teasing smile, as he well knew that JJ hated it to be called by his real name. JJ's face instantly showed the distaste for his real name as he looked at the Oberkommandant with an annoyed glance.

"What's the matter, sugarpop? Don't tell me you don't like the name your father gave you." Neff kept provoking JJ about his father, who actually has had a fetish for furred women. As JJ pressed his jaws together and tried his best to hold his temper he continued the conversation: "My father was a disgrace for humanity at its finest and I enjoyed torturing him before finally flaying him until he bled out."

A reason why Jack's nickname was only 'JJ' and not 'JGJ' was that his father's name was Gustav and he hated his father with all his heart. He hated him even more than he hated mammals. And because of that hate Jack just left out the 'G' in his initials he used as nickname for himself.

"Well, whatever I won't rise your temper anymore now but I wanted you to be angry to have a reason to line up several of those furs before pulling the trigger. We need to kill them quickly since our rations are getting quite short and we also wanna save ammunition."

"Hah. Neff the creative problem solver. Hahahahahahahahahahah" Ramtin and the rest of the squad had to laugh at that, and yes, even Neff let a smile slide across his lips. Seeing the strict and serious Oberkommandant smiling was a really rare view, even though it just happened twice in under 5 minutes, and seeing him laugh was something almost nobody witnessed. Only his brothers had seen him laugh and that was when they were Childs.

His own brothers and family actually forgot the sound of his laughter as they didn't hear it in about 2 years if not even 4 or 5. Even though Michael and Sebastian tried their best to make him laugh the best results they had yet was to get him snort and them smile awkwardly for a few minutes.

"Well, sir when can we start the testing?" Phantom asked with an interested voice and rose his eyebrows.

"Whenever you are ready, soldiers. I'm not holding you back at all." The Oberkommandant turned around and opened a crate behind him, took out a rifle and showed it to his loyal soldiers.

"Ahh. They're beautiful aren't' they? These beauties can serve as both, sniper rifle and also assault rifle and all that with an integrated silencer! Isn't that just wonderful? They also have 14 shots per magazine." Neff said with pure amazement and anticipation.

All the soldiers around him let out sounds of amazement and astonishment as some even got a step closer to have a better look. It was a sleek, long rifle made of black steel with some red details. The muzzle of the gun ended like any typical assault gun but it also had some slight hints towards the muzzle of a sniper rifle and the body was built similar to that of a honeybadger gun.

"Well, soldiers let's start the testing, huh? Have fun while it lasts. We only have about 50 prisoners."

The soldiers went into the building that was holding the prisoner's cells and as they entered they had wicked and sickening smiles on their faces. All of them but Chester. He was the only one that felt guilt in killing these poor stranded souls. God knew if they were gonna leave brother and sisters or Mother and father behind. Or maybe even an own family. Chester had to fight with himself to not cry. He felt such pain for killing these poor, simple men that just wanted a life in freedom without fearing the threat of Humans trying to enslave them all.

The Phantom squad prepared their rifles, lined up some prisoners, had them blindfolded with a piece of cloth and then fired until none of them were standing anymore. Time for the next 10 prisoners to get lead into the room, already blindfolded. They didn't care to get the corpses of the last prisoners out since they would have to clean the room anyways after the last 10 prisoners. Shots and screams could be heard as the next ten prisoners fell lifeless to the ground. They repeated this routine 3 more times until they had cleaned all the cells from their inhabitants and felt weirdly satisfied through killing helpless ones that couldn't even defend themselves.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, outer Fields, 16:00 PM, 20th of June***

All the soldiers were happily talking about the amazing night they have had with the amazing girls they managed to court last evening during the festival. They all talked and laughed heartedly in turns of each other. They truly enjoyed it, all of them were happily talking except one of them. Nick was the only one who didn't talk. He was walking ahead of the group to lead the way but to also have a bit privacy. His thoughts were still on Judy. The happy time they had together, the amazing dancing they did, how they were enjoying each other's company during the evening in her room and kissed each other and lastly on the sad face of her as he had to leave her this afternoon. It pained Nick deeply that he had to leave her but he couldn't just resign from his duties he swore to fulfill when the army could use every single man they could get their paws on. He would resign, yes but only if the war was almost over and victory was in their paws for sure. Then he would resign, go back to Judy and start a family with her, if she was okay with it and if it even was possible.

That was what he dreamed about at the moment. To start a happy family with Judy and live on the farm of her family to happily come to an end of his days with his newfound mate. Hopefully he would live through this time to at least see her one more time, even if she found someone else by that time that she wanted to spend her life with, he would be glad to just see her beauty once more before death. Of course it would break his heart but he still would be glad to know that she found someone she can love even more than him.

"Yeah, they turned out to be really crazy girls!" Jamie was saying while also kind of laughing at the same time " so it turned out that they both were twin-sisters and that they really have a fetish for tall guys. What's even better is that I'm too a fox just like them! And the absolutely best part is that they're serious about it. They told me that they would keep writing me letters, and of course I will write them back! These ladies are amazing. Not only in bed but also in personality, I tell you!"

"Hah, our Goliath enjoyed himself two Davids yesterday, eh? Well at least you got the chance to release your stress huh?" Zack said with a smug grin. "Well I had a fine girl yesterday too but I think we both were more interested in our bodies than in meeting again." Zack made a relieved and satisfied face as he thought about the events of last night.

The soldiers kept on talking the whole way until they reached a checkpoint of their army in the fields. Nobody actually knew that it existed; as it seemed not even the Humans as such a small environment would have long since been captured by them. As they reached the small checkpoint they got searched through by guards at the entrance and had to identify themselves with their name tags and species. Then they were allowed to enter.

All soldiers got into a building that was a barrack and set their backpacks down with groans. They also undid their boots and unclothed down to their underwear. They then took showers and ate dinner as they talked some more about stuff that happened the last day.

The rest of the evening was pretty much finished by listening to a sports canal on radio and doing card- and drinking games with soldiers that were stationed in that checkpoint. Nick of course had all of those soldiers lose their salary against him, hence the term 'Sly fox' as he always had a joker up his sleeve. Or a whole card set, that depended on the amount of rivals he had.

After a few hours of drinking and playing card games or listening to sports on radio they slowly let the day come to an end. Since the boys stationed here were easy guys they offered them to give them a lift to Ironmood, which Nick and his soldiers gladly accepted.

* * *

 ***Ironmood, outskirts, 08:00 AM, 21st of June***

"Rise and shine, honeypots! Time to get back to Ironmood! Be ready in 30 minutes to attend to breakfast, then in another 30 minutes we'll be heading out!" The sergeant of the checkpoint announced with a kind yet stern voice. The sergeant was a retriever in his mid twenties. He reminded Nick an awful lot of Doc Niklasson.

As Nick got ready for the morning he just had a lot of thoughts whirling around in his mind. First of his home and why he had left it in the first place, then a long lost thought caught up with him. He left it to find his brother. Then his thoughts swung back to a dark night. He was back in the camp of the Humans. He heard many a shots, explosions and screams of agony, as he saw it all with his eye in his mind. All the mammals and Humans just falling to the ground like ragdolls, others flying through the air because of grenades exploding close to them other again laying or kneeling on the ground as they held a bodypart that was no longer there. Then his thoughts again changed. Now he saw the face of Judy, stained with tears of happiness and a wonderful smile and her beautiful eyes awaited him. He really regret it that he had left her but he had to. He had to fulfill his duties.

During breakfast Nick walked over to the Sergeant and started to talk to him.

"This seat here free?" Nick asked with a questioning expression on his face.

"I'm sorry but no. There's already air there. But of course it's free, lad! Just help yourself and sit down."

"Thanks, sir. As I can see you have a sense of humor, unlike a lot of high ranked militaries."

"Well, I'm not that kind of guy to just try to act tough and look hard in front of the boys. The best way for them to find out that I'm hard is when they try to compete me and lose in a fair fight."

"Yeah, that seems reasonable. Listen, you know anyone that goes by the last name of Niklasson? I just wonder, you don't have to answer, sir."

"Well why shouldn't I answer? I do happen to just randomly know someone that's named Niklasson. I just can't quite remember" The sergeant made a frown and closed his eyes as though he was thinking hard. Then he opened his eyes wide, lifted his eyebrows and help up one hand with a finger pointed at the ceiling. "Ohh, right! That's me!" The sergeant made a surprised expression and had a smile on his muzzle as he had to supress a small laugh. "I'm Sergeant Niklasson. To be exact Sergeant Geoffrey Niklasson. I haven't caught your name yet, Lieutenant." The Retreiver said as he looked at Nicks uniform.

Nick's eyes widened in surprise and he got a gut crushing feeling in his stomach. This probably was Doc Niklasson's son. Nick just moved his jaw up and down a few times before managing to get a word out with his shocked state of mind.

"Oh-eh-uhm m-my name is….. Nicholas…. Nicholas Piberius Wilde, sir" Nick said and made a stumpy salute.

The sergeant kept looking over Nick's uniform in a puzzled expression until it caught the attention of Nick.

"Sir, is something wrong with my uniform?" Nick asked as he looked down his own body and stretched out and turned his limbs in an atempt to find something that wasn't supposed to be. As he found nothing after a good 2 minutes he looked back up at the retriever and had a questioning look on his face. "Sir?"

"How comes you go by the rank of Lieutenant if you only have the rookie stripe on your shoulders and no medals yet?"

"Well, before me we had another leader. That leader chose me as second in command and since he died a week back I now have the command over the group and to have the ability to command them I need a higher rank so we decided on Lieutenant for me. Is that not right, sir?"

"Well, it's not completely correct but I guess it's also not completely wrong. Anyway you came here to tell me something or am I mistaken? At least talk to me I assume."

"I mainly came here to ask you about your name since you look awfully familiar to me and... well"

"What is it then, lieutenant?"

"Sergeant… I think I have bad news for you…."

"Oh, you do? Please go on… I'm hard at taking." The young retriever said before taking a bite from a piece of bred that had some jam on it.

"Uhm…your father…. He was a good mammal… he died for our last leader who managed to take down several Humans in the following events of your father's actions. Your father didn't make it though."

"Oh, the death of my father. Hm, yes. A tragic thing, but He died a quick and rather painless death I was told."

"Oh, you already know?" Nick said surprised at that.

"Of course I do, he was my father and had a high personality on the field so his priority is also high. I found out 2 days after his death." Niklasson said as he took a sip of coffee and took another bite of his bread.

"Well, since I was there I can confirm that your father died a rather painless death and a quick and brave one at that. For our commander that died too by now, sadly. I'm just very surprised that you're so open about the death of your father. Aren't you sad?"

"You see… my father always told me to concentrate on the happy aspects of everything. He lived a happy live and taught me how to do so too. He lived a wonderful live, met brave men on the battlefield and died a quick painless death. It couldn't come any better on the battlefields, could it?" Niklasson asked with a happy smile. "Don't get me wrong, I am sad about him leaving us, but we all will leave this planet eventually. He just did a bit earlier than expected but still, he was a good mammal and is at a better place now. I'm happy for him, and I'm sure that he is also happy for me and you to meet each other, Nicholas. Fate has probably wanted it this way. His death lead to this event and together we can bring justice to the whole happening if we try enough hard."

Nick was awe struck at the positive aura the Retriever seemed to radiate. It made Nick feel better than he had and that Retriever seemed just as wise and Humorous as Doc Niklasson. It had to be in the family. Nick had to close his mouth at the wisdom the still, rather young Retriever already had. He seemed just as clever as his father did and he seemed like nothing could ever bring his happy personality down. Nick really had to learn from him, quickly.

"Tell me, your father liked riddles, didn't he?" Nick saked as he frowned at the sudden thought of the one sentence the Doc had said before leaving them.

"Well kind of. Why?" Niklasson asked with an interested face and a soft gaze.

"Well, you see me and my group never got his first name, even though we wanted it to be engraved in the wall of honorable soldiers. Shortly before he left us, he said something along the lines, I quote: 'My name is not of importance right now as you will find it out when we meet again' can you tell me what he meant with that?"

"There are two options: either that He meant one of his children to tell you, when 'we', so you and another Niklasson family member meet, or when you meet him in death or paralysis. I can't tell you for sure either but I'm not gonna tell you that easily if it's still unsure how you'll find out my Father's name." The sergeant gave him a sly little smile.

"But no worries, lieutenant, you will eventually find out. Trust me"

The sergeant took a peek at his watch.

"Oh my, we've gotta get going. Alright boys! Enough breakfast for now! Time to move out to Ironmood! We will meet outside on the plaza in 5 minutes, I have an important announcement!

* * *

 ***Ironmood, outskirts, 09:00 AM, 21st of June***

As the soldiers all met outside of the dining hall, all in all about 60 soldiers, they stood at attention waiting for their sergeant to appear. As the sergeant finally made it to them, just in time, he stood in front of all of them and looked at some of them before starting to talk in an joyous and yet still stern voice.

"Soldiers, as you all know we met some nice fellow comrades yesterday. As they are in need of some help I and my personal Elite guard will deliver them to the battlefields of Ironmood and also support them on their journey there. That means, we will join battle on the fronts of Ironmood."

Some soldiers cheered while others looked around nervously. In the group there was some concerned whispering going around like 'I don't wanna fight on the front' or 'Oh awesome, the death front'. Nick had to smile at those comments and shook his head. He spoke up with a bit of pride and excitement in his voice.

"Guys, if someone like me has made it out of there alive, you will certainly make it too. You're the elite of the sergeant, right?" Nick looked around for any movements or reactions.

More cheers from the crowd arose and some even held up their arms into the air. Nick just now noticed that these soldiers here exclusively were Golden retrievers. He just started to stare awestruck at how golden their fur was. Their fur looked exactly identical and still everyone of them shone in a different shade of golden.

The Sergeant seemed to notice that and stepped next to Nick with a happy smile on his face and a well knowing gaze that told Nick that he's gonna get an explanation just about now.

"Well, lieutenant we don't go by the name of the 'Golden Battalion' for no reason. Our shining fur on the battlefields always stand for morale and high pride in our rows and for doubt and panic in enemy lines. I'm actually quite surprised that you never heard of us."

"Hoh, I did…. But I imagined it to just be some sort of saying since you always win….not because all of you are shining, quite literally, golden. How much did it take to become the sergeant of this elite troop anyway?"

"About my whole teenage life and first few years of my twenties. But it's worth it. A good loan, a high reputation, only good and brave men in my lines, in addition to that all of my kindred so I can understand their needs and natural drives perfectly and we're never missing out on action." The sergeant said with his chest sticking out in pride and his face showing a really happy smile and eyes that were half closed because of the giant smile. "Well except for the last few weeks. We've been put on scouting duty since there were more than enough new recruits that needed to get some experience in war, so they took back their more experienced troops for more serious situations."

"Hmm. Interesting considering that we lost about 15'000 Mammals on this front alone against about 4'000 Humans. But recently me and Nazim, if you know him, threw together a group of injured soldiers to ambush the Humans." Nick said but his expression not really clear to read.

"Of course I know Nazim. Everyone knows Chainbreaker. He's almost a legend like me and my battalion." Geoffrey said with a bright expression.

"Was, sir." Nick said with a sad tone.

"Huh?" The Sergeant asked again with a puzzled expression.

"He was a legend sir, until he let his life for a certain rookie" Nick said with a bit of dislike in his voice as he looked towards the direction of another, young red fox.

"Oh, it's always sad to find out that someone symbolic died. No matter which side you show some decent respect towards a good enemy. Anyway we really have to get going elsewise we'll miss out on the whole fun of the fighting."

"Well, sir it was a hefty pleasure to meet you. I can assure you that I'll enjoy fighting on your side.

* * *

End of chapter 11

(Notes: This time I don't have much to say except that I was extremely tired while writing this chapter and had to take several breaks. Hope u still enjoyed the chapter and peace!)


	36. Start of a Turf war

(Disclaimer: This chapter isn't dedicated to any song and it's rather short but I hope you still enjoy it nontheless. Have fun reading!)

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Mammal's side, 12:30 PM, 21** **st** **of June***

After a rather long Car ride from the outskirt zones of the Tri-burrows the soldiers finally arrived in Ironmood. They drove in a number of rather big Military trucks that weren't especially armored or equipped with gun turrets as they didn't expect to get attacked and that expectations proved to be correct as they had a calm and easy drive over to Ironmood.

As Nick and his remaining soldiers exited the truck they walked around for a bit and found that there were 5 other trucks following them, each one filled with 12 Retrievers. Nick came to a halt and awaited the arrival of Lieutenant Niklasson. As he patiently waited with his soldiers all close by he noticed that the road he and Crash had travelled on their arrival day had been repaired mostly and the trenches next to the road were now finished and there were way less corpses around than back then.

As Nick turned his head back to the trucks that were about 50 meters away and standing in a meadow with dry grass that was closer to hay than actual grass and a few flowers that were close to wither to death. He saw that Lieutenant Niklasson was on his way over to him and his soldiers to talk a bit. A few single soldiers, probably the serge's bodyguard, were following him. Nick was impressed once again by the golden glow and shine of their fur. It really seemed to give off a confidence boosting aura as well as making it seem senseless to try and fight against them. For some reason Nick got uneasy as they walked directly towards him, armoured with their rifles and equipment.

Even though Nick knew they were on his side he still had to think about how it would feel to see these majestic soldiers walk directly towards you and know that their goal was your death. It would seem quite inviting to just run or even take your death into your own hands at that point. Nick had to smile at how terrifying it would be if they were really against him and not fighting with him.

Nick straightened his stance, pushed out his chest and held his head higher up and saluted the Lieutenant, the Lieutenant briefly coming to a stop, doing the same and then dropping back to ease quickly and greeting Nick with a friendly smile, Nick in return doing the same thing.

"So, Nick, we're finally back here. Here to finally push the humans out this damned huddle of rubble, cobble and ruins that once was known as the great city of Ironmood. It's a real shame that whole cities were just swallowed by the hunger of war. So many people without homes or really anything will be left after war."

"Yes, sir. We're finally back and I don't think I could hate it more, even though it seems the situation has bettered itself over time slowly. We expect to have about 500 Humans, maybe even a little less, stationed here. Nazim and the rest of us, together with great boys, who by now are probably dead, did a surprise attack on the Human camp and killed a lot of them, though at the expense of losing Nazim."

"Hm, every war has it's losses. It's good that these men knew what was right and to stand up for it, even though they were wounded. If I were able to I'd salute to each one of them and shake their paws, but I hardly think that would help at all."

Nick and the Lieutenant slowly started to walk towards the center of the city, their hands behind their back and heads facing the ground as they talked over the events that had happened here the last few days. Nick was by far less informed about it all than the Lieutenant and thought it to be normal since Niklasson had the higher rank and therefor was trusted with more information.

As they slowly made their way about the path and kept talking the Lieutenant's bodyguards and Nick's few soldiers also started to talk about some funny things they had experienced the last couple of days. Nick's soldiers talked about the amazing festival and the sweet girls they had found there and Niklasson's soldiers talked about how they had found several Human squads trying to flank around the formation of the mammals and had walked into their patrols. Most Humans just gave up on it after they got a good view at the golden fur of the soldiers, others though were more stubborn and had to pay a very high prize for it.

They also made some jokes and commonly it took them about 2 minutes to calm down from the laughter. After several days of not having any real entertainment or fun it was common that you laughed at about pretty much every joke you heard though these boys had some very rare and good jokes up their sleeves.

As the group finally reached the center of the city where a small bunker was standing the Lieutenant again saluted Nick, which in return did the same, and told them all to wait outside until he had told the local General that they were here and their next commands were clear.

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Mammal's side, 13:15 PM, 21** **st** **of June***

As Niklasson finally came out of the bunker a big, chubby cheetah was following him. He quickly introduced the soldiers to the General.

"Boys, this is General Clawhauser, he has been stationed here 2 days ago as the old General was decided as incapable of the job since he didn't manage to occupy this city fully in more than 2 years."

The soldiers threw the General a lot of different gazes, the most though were respecting and excited to be led by a new, different General, that most certainly was more capable of the job than the last one, who was an arrogant and ignorant raccoon. A few soldiers also threw him a gaze of mistrust though it was a clear minority. The General looked with a happy and friendly expression over all them.

"Hello, fellow comrades. As Lieutenant Niklasson just told you, I am new to this battlefield though I am already a veteran in terms of war and tactics. I am sure that if you are trusted with a well-planned and detailed plan you all can execute wonderful missions and fulfill flawless work."

The General looked over the group of soldiers and gave them all a suddenly stern look. He looked to the horizon and saw that just now a lot of other soldiers were getting over the small hill that the road led over. His expression eased up a bit and he looked more confident than just a few seconds before.

"Oh, excellent the whole Golden Battalion is here. I never dreamt of having this amazing group under my command at some point of time. Seems like fortune is on my side. Well then, let's shake things up and kick these Humans out of this city with a hard kick to their unpleasant asses!"

The soldiers that were collected in front of the General all had to smile and cheered a bit for the confidence their General showed. He was just as sure of victory as he for sure has already eaten 5 donuts today and the soldiers had no other choice but show the same amount of confidence.

As the rest of the soldiers arrived Niklasson gave the order to relax a few minutes and then prepare for a push to the front where a lot of mammals would await their support. To Nick he gave the order to choose a name for him and his few remaining soldiers as he couldn't absorb them into his battalion but still wanted a more comfortable name then 'Nick and the rest'.

Nick and his soldiers all walked over to the medical tents and managed to convince a medic to give Crash a proper dose of morphine so he could walk without having to feel a lot of pain as it was most unpleasant if Jamie would have to carry him all the time.

After Niklasson has discussed the plan with his soldiers that he was gonna use to overthrow the Humans and finally push them out of this city he came over to Nick and his comrades.

"So" Niklasson started with a happy and excited voice as he raised his eyebrows "have you guys decided on a name yet?"

Nick just had to grin and shake his head as he thought about the names his boys had come up with. For example Lead-heads, Hell-fire, Shadow-strike or Dragon-house. Nick just had a silly grin on his muzzle though it suddenly vanished when he remembered Latin classes that he has had in college the shaking of his head slowly becoming a nod and the silly grin transforming into one of liking.

Born to win. Natus Vincere. The short form is gonna be Na'Vi. That was the thought that had suddenly crossed his mind. He turned over to his soldiers speaking with them quietly for some time.

"Nick, I'm still waiting" Geoffrey with a sly grin across his muzzle and still risen eyebrows.

Nick turned around with a solid expression of security and confidence.

"Sir, the Na'Vi squad is at your service, ready for orders." Nick said as all his squad members lined up behind Nick and they all straightened their stances and saluted in the same time, making it look pretty impressive even though they were only 7.

"hmm, Na'Vi. Is that some exotic language or just a fancy name?" Niklasson asked with an interested voice and visage.

"Sir, Na'Vi is the short form of Natus Vincere which translates to 'born to win' in Latin, sir!" Nick said as he still stood ready and at attention looking straight ahead with a neutral expression.

"You can stand at ease, Wilde. I've got good news for you and your boys. You all are going to receive medals and you, Nick, are going to be promoted to a Sergeant. The medals you'll be receiving are the medal of honor and the medal of bravery. Both are really sought-after in our lines. Since only our army awards these medals they are also very popular trophies in Human lines so be careful to not display them too much or you're gonna be like a running target-plate to them." Niklasson said with a very stern tone that none of them has heard before. It seemed like all the gossip and silliness from before has vanished and was replaced by professionalism.

"Sir, we are grateful for it. When will we have to move out to the front?" Nick asked with a still neutral expression after he had shifted into a more comfortable position also tugging at his pants to get his most personal parts into a more comfy place.

"Whenever you think it's right. You are from now on a squad under control of yourself. You can do whatever you want unless a letter from the General directly tells you otherwise. Good luck from now on, soldiers" Niklasson said as he saluted once more then changed back into a more friendly expression again and turned away to move out with all of his 59 elite soldiers. Together with him they were 60 and Niklasson couldn't wonder with how many they were going to return since he well knew, no matter how elite and well trained someone is, a certain circumstance that he isn't trained for can always occur and in that moment he is going to die.

Lieutenant Niklasson walked to the front of the group and came to a halt in front of them. He looked at all of them and thought for a moment of what he was going to say, but then decided against it to say anything at all as he well knew that his soldiers already knew all his speeches. He just looked at all of them softly and with a kind of love only brothers could have. His soldiers knew what he said with that one gaze at them and threw it right back at him. They all were like brothers to each other in that aspect and they well knew that they most certainly were going to lose some of their brothers today.

Niklasson and his soldiers started to walk along the long, curvy cobble road again. They enjoyed the sight of a few flowers here and there and looked at the horizon where a few meadows started to spread again. Oh, how they enjoyed the look of green grass again after being here for only a mere hour. This city just seemed like a place that came out of hell and started to spread itself on the earth's surface.

As he and his soldiers moved on they started to sing to get their morale up and prepare themselves for warfare. Their minds all on the same thing: how many Human's lives was it gonna cost and how many brothers were they gonna lose for it.

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Mammal's side, 15:30 PM, 21** **st** **of June***

As Lieutenant Niklasson and his troops had finally reached the front they were surprised at how well the Human were resisting. They had at least 5 machine gun turrets mounted on the walls of their camp and a lot of snipers stationed on their watch towers. The snipers were careful not to expose themselves too much since they could easily get picked off by enemy snipers that had more options of changing their location in the broad mud-fields of the city's ruins. Only few mammals dared to hold their heads above the ruins they were hiding behind and on a regular basis these that dared to look fell lifelessly to the ground with a hole through their heads.

Niklasson waited for the perfect opportunity and then set his plan in action slowly. He encouraged a lot of other soldiers to start storming on his command and when they did so he and all of his soldiers ran in a curve, to flank the machine-guns, around the other troops and tried to reach the wall. On the way many a soldier around them fell because of the chaos but Niklasson had timed it really greatly so that of 5 Machine-guns only 1 was firing while the others all had to reload for a rather long amount of time.

As more and more soldiers fell they slowly felt the need to retreat but Niklasson oppressed it that thought by telling them that the way back was longer than the way to the walls where they all would be safe too so the soldiers kept following him and his troops.

As they finally reached the walls, heavily breathing and sweating, their blood rich with adrenaline, Niklasson started counting his soldiers. Still 60, that was perfect. He ordered his specialists to place enough dynamite to blow a hole into the walls without endangering mammals that were around.

As the deep and loud boom of the detonation sounded through their ears they used the moment of surprise to flood into the Human camp and quickly engulfed in a brutal match that was about life or death on all behalves.

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Mammal's side, 18:00 PM, 21** **st** **of June***

The battle had ended a mere few minutes ago and a lot of corpses were everywhere, some laying on the ground, others in a sitting position with their backs leaning on a wall some with only a few wounds others that were completely perforated with bullet-holes and again others that simply were ripped apart by big caliber guns.

Niklasson and some soldiers were strolling through the cleared camp in search of any hiding humans. As they were still searching Niklasson noticed that someone was watching him. As he picked his gaze up from the ground and looked straight ahead he saw him. A tall, muscular Human with the Hat and mantle of a high ranked military. He held a weapon Niklasson hasn't seen before. He was caught up in the moment and thought about possible options of surviving this encounter.

As he dashed for cover he also saw that there was a huge train caravan on its way to the base. This had to be a train transporting new soldiers, food, ammunition, weapons and all other sorts of things this base needed to come back to full strength. Niklasson realized that the battle over this base hasn't ended a few minutes ago. No, it has begun a few minutes ago Niklasson realized with an expression of utter shock as the blood in his veins froze and he couldn't help but stare into nothingness as he noticed how high the chance of them all dying was.

* * *

End of chapter 12

(Notes: I hope you guys enjoyed this short chapter. Tomorrow there's gonna be a longer one. Oh and please don't forget to review to help me improve.)


	37. A bombastic surprise

(Disclaimer: Well I don't really have a lot to say except that, well, I've been lazy the last few days. I really need to get more discipline again :D. Anyway enjoy reading!)

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 18:00 PM, 21st of June***

Judy was sitting on a fence letting her legs hang below her body her hands supporting her balance at the side of her hips. She was just staring into the distance in an absent mode. She wasn't anything physically nor was she thinking about anything. She just stared off into the distance and let time go by. She was very worried about Nick. She, of course, was worried about his comrades as well but she mainly was worried about her lover. She would gladly hear that one of his friends died just so he could live. As harsh as that was, it was the only acceptable thing for her if someone had to die.

She couldn't bear it if Nick died. Her first ever true love and that she fell in love with him so quickly had to mean something, and then out of all a fox and a bunny. That practically was like spitting right into Mother Nature's open mouth. It was something very obscene and looked down upon by other mammals. But Judy was sure that they could do it especially since it was wartime. During war mammals didn't care what they had to love as long as they had something to love and be loved at the same time so Judy's hopes were high.

Judy just let out a shaky and nervous sigh as another breeze, like so many before, rolled over the fields and made her shudder. The sun was just beginning to set and with that the warmth it gave started to fade slowly whilst painting the skies above in a diverse spectrum of red, orange and yellow.

Judy slowly got off the fence and started to walk without really looking where she went. She grew up on this very farm so she pretty much knew where to go even if her eyes were blindfolded. She made her way across a street and then followed an alley that was shaded by some trees and sat next to a road. She just looked at the ground and let her mind wander about all the things she experienced in the last few days.

Her mind went from one memory to another, most of them being about Nick. She had to let go of a few tears as she noticed that in her memory he was only a blob of red fur and was blurry. She couldn't even remember his voice completely. She started to cry at that horrible event. She couldn't remember Nick although he was everything she thought about the last few days, and yet there she was, left alone with her blurry memories of him even though he left just yesterday.

Distracted by her own miserable state Judy neither noticed the Tank that drove by nor the sudden noise of several planes flying and several other Tanks getting off the road and try to hide. One of the Tanks almost drove over Judy had a soldier beforehand not grabbed her arms and lifted her up on it.

She was shocked to see that they all were Humans, then it came to her mind. Only Humans built and used tanks, the mammals had rhinos and elephants to counter the Human war machines. Judy tried to scream but the Human muffled her quickly with one of his gloved hands. Judy tried to bite his hand but the soldier used his second hand to press her head against his other hand and had her checkmate with that.

As Judy realized that he didn't do anything else she slowly stopped struggling against him. She now watched the whole scene play out. There were about seven Tanks, dozens of soldiers and several Trucks, probably transporting soldiers as well, driving off the road to hide from a squadron of Zootopian flyers. There were normal planes that aimed at the trucks before unleashing dozens of bullets in just seconds and there were small bomber planes heading for the Tanks.

One of the soldiers on top of the Tank next to Judy looked up into the sky, aiming at something before he got ripped apart by dozens of bullets that had the same volume as a Human's finger. As Judy looked at the brutal scene before her she watched as the deformed corpse of the human fell off the tank. The tank itself only had a few scratches in its coloring and kept driving as if nothing had happened. The soldiers that held Judy also looked up and then, in sheer and utter panic, screamed something into the tank that made the driver stop as just 2 or 3 meters in front of them a small bomb hit the ground. Judy got hurt by several shrapnel pieces and had some burns in her fur because of the flame and heat wave. The Human let go of her with one hand and started screaming like he was being pierced slowly by several spears. Judy looked back at him and saw that he was covering his right eye with a hand and blood was oozing out from under it. The human kept screaming and started to squirm more and more until he fell off the Tank and was driven over by a Tank following them just a few meters behind them.

Judy just heard a loud crunch as he was driven over, probably from all the bones that broke, and had to muffle herself to not scream and get the attention of several other Humans. Though she was questioning that nay Human would even care about her she didn't want to risk anything. The Tank that was following behind them just started to go a bit faster as a Human jumped off from it and only a few seconds later the Tank went up in flames and an explosion ripped it apart as it came to a halt.

Another soldier ran past the tank and then knelt into the dirt, having a long pipe on his shoulder. A second Human came into view from behind some trees and then ignited the fuse that was sticking out at the end of the pipe. After about 3 seconds a loud bang could be heard and a massive, rocket like bullet flew out of it. After flying about 60 meters it crashed right into a plane, instantly ripping off one of its wings and bringing it down. The pilot from the plane jumped out of the cockpit, using a parachute to not die from the fall, though that would never be required as he got killed by gunshot as soon as he was out of the cockpit. As the dead pilot came closer to the ground Judy recognized it as a wolf.

That fight kept going, killing several Human foot soldiers, destroying one more Tanks and the air squadron lost 6 more planes as the Tanks started to use their heavy machine guns they had mounted on top of their turrets to shoot back.

Judy just sat there in horror at what she just mentioned. She now understood why so many had mental issues after mentioning a war. What she saw just was pure cruelty and was breaking several rules of nature itself. Judy almost started to cry again but as the noise was now fading she had to hold back to not provoke getting any attention. She just jumped off the tank and laid on the ground, into tall grass hoping to not be seen. As the small army of Humans passed by she saw several of them wounded fatally that would die for sure in the coming days, dozens others wounded badly that for sure couldn't continue fighting and again others that just had gross wounds or were shell-shocked with a creepy grin on their faces and huge eyes, just standing there and doing nothing.

As the army wandered by and passed her, just leaving the horrified men there on the spot not really caring about their fate anymore, she made her way over to one of them. With an interested, yet compassionate expression she held one of her hand out in front of the man's face. He didn't exact in the slightest. His breathing rhythm remained the same, his eyes still staring into the nothingness his whole body just limp.

Judy then touched his arm. Still nothing changed. She then grabbed his arm and pulled at it causing him to fall over and then look at her for a few seconds before, again, looking into the distance. Judy just was standing there with disbelief. She didn't know what she should do, what she could do, to help them. She didn't know how to help them so she just left them there, leaving them to their fate, crying and sobbing for the lost souls. Yes, they were humans but actually only a few of the humans held their head high in pride claiming that they wanted to use the mammals as resources for food, fur and other materials. Most of them fought in this war to not get called cowards or simply get executed for refusing to serve the empire.

Most of them were actually kind hearted and only shot, mostly into the ground on purpose, to not get suspected of being 'traitors' or 'backstabbing the empire'.

After Judy had made it home she first had to let her brain process what she had just witnessed. Her brain jumped to the moment the one Soldier on the tank was mercilessly ripped apart by the plane shots, then it jumped to the man who had wanted to help her and was driven over by a tank, then her mind jumped to the blinding fire the explosion of the tank had caused, then again it jumped to the shell shocked soldiers just standing there in the meadows and lastly her mind jumped to Nick. Her dear lover who probably was experiencing something similar right now, if not even somehow worse.

She had to ask herself how he had managed to keep going back to such things over and over again. Didn't he feel the same way for all the things he witnessed, or was he just some cold-blooded emotionless murderer? No, that could not be. He was so caring and loving towards her, it just had to be impossible that he didn't feel the same way. The things she had witnessed beforehand told her 2 things: Humans are also very much living beings with a conscience and feelings and second, that some mammals bear the same hatred and ruthlessness as some humans bore it.

She just sat there, processing it all and slowly making her way towards the shower. Who knows, maybe it would help her get over it?

* * *

 ***Ironmood, Mammal's side, 18:30 PM, 21st of June***

It was like hell on earth. Everywhere you'd look you would see someone suffer and bleed out or scream until they finally got the blessing of death, no matter where you tried to go you would get shot down, either by an enemy of by an ally by accident. Everywhere there were gunshots and explosions. Nick had to admit it, it was a miracle he still was alive. Him and his whole squad had come here some minutes after Niklasson and hell had already broken out in that short amount of time. There were hundreds of Humans just streaming into the camp from 2 entrances. The 5 machine guns they had captured from the humans were now mercilessly against them. About eighty percent of the Humans that made it to the entrance made it there just to get shot down by the machine guns. The few that made it past that still had a long way to cover and again about half of them were shot down until they made it to the cover and could start fighting back.

After fighting for almost one hour now there were about 500 Humans left against about 100 mammals that had an advantage because of the machine guns, their cover and their higher located position. Nick looked around and saw that their losses were surprisingly low. From the 'Golden Battalion' there were only about 6 members missing, all their other losses were some mammals that were dragged here by the crowd. Nick scanned the area for enemies before looking around for the Lieutenant. When he couldn't find him he got a bit worried but suddenly he got really shocked at seeing the Lieutenant fighting a Human in a 1 on 1 fight.

As Nick watched with an interested expression, his mind racing to try and help his Lieutenant one of his men grabbed his shoulder

"Sir, you really should let them fight each other in a fair fight. Nobody's supposed to mix into their fight, since it's a fair 1 on 1 fight."

Nick twitched and got a bit scared at the sudden contact. "God, Jamie at least warn me." Nick said as he looked back over his shoulder to look at Goliath. "Are you sure about it? I don't want to lose another great leader just because we weren't supposed to help him. He's too good to be lost in such a dumb way."

"Sir, trust me, he'll win this fight for sure."

"I really hope so" said Nick as he took his rifle and started to aim.

"As soon as there's any sign of him losing the fight I'll pull the trigger."

"Sir, if you do that, then some Human will shoot Niklasson too"

"Well then both the leaders are dead and not only ours, right?"

"That is right, but still sir. Please just don't be too quick to pull the trigger, else you're going to regret it." Jamie said trying his best to convince Nick to not be too rushed about it.

Nick wanted to start talking again when he watched in horror as the guys fighting in the middle suddenly moved a lot and Niklasson fell to the ground, or much rather was thrown to the ground.

"How Is that a fair fight? The human is way taller, stronger and has a larger range with his arms! That's not fair at all!" Nick screamed as he got pissed off and scared at the same time. Then he saw that Niklasson used his legs to kick the human over himself as the Human tried to rush him. As the Human flew through the air Niklasson pulled a knife from his belt and got back up on his feet.

Nick could hear over the distance that Niklasson was teasing the human.

"Come on! That all you got? A shame!" then he also heard the Lieutenant chuckle

As the human got back up on his feet he retorted with: "Oh just wait. Little doggie. I'll show what I have in store!" Then an angry scream came from the human as he again rushed Niklasson.

As the Lieutenant made a sidestep to dodge the Oberkommandant's charge he simply held out his leg and the human fell over it. The Man landed really harsh and let a scream of agony go. As the human stood back up it was clearly visible that he broke his left arm from the fall.

Niklasson teased him again

"Yeah you got quite some fresh dance moves in store I see" then the lieutenant lost himself at his own joke and had to really pull himself together to not laugh too much at it.

"SHUT UUUUUUPPPP!" The Oberkommandant screamed with pure rage and anger as his muscles started to flex from sheer rage.

Niklasson now took back a serious attitude as he knew that it now was a dangerous fight and not only a small fun spare with the human.

The Human made some quick steps towards Niklasson. The Lieutenant and the Human circled around ach other for some time until the Oberkommandant jumped forwards and managed to grab Niklasson and lift him up. He tried to stab the Retriever but he managed to dodge the stab, kick Neff in his ribs and get free again.

As Niklasson still regained his balance the Human fell back to the ground and had to rest for a second on his knees. That second weas too much though as the Retriever could get too close and stab him in the ribs. Neff rolled over onto his back to be able do defend himself better and tried to stab back but only missed as Niklasson was way too fast.

After a few seconds of struggling against each other the Lieutenant managed to bury his knife inside the human's chest and let the fight come to an end. Finally the evil Oberkommandant had found his well-deserved end. After so many brutal and unnecessary deaths on both sides, the battle on this front was finally over with his death.

Almost all the remaining humans laid down their rifles and surrendered themselves to the mammals. They were taken prisoners and cared about in the medical centers and then locked away in the city's core.

* * *

End of chapter 13

(Notes: As always, I hope you enjoyed reading and please give some feedback so I know on what to improve to make the reading of my stories more enjoyable. Peace!)


	38. Goodwill has a Name

(Disclaimer: I don't own Zootopia nor any characters from it, though I own a lot of characters that are mentioned in this story. Well at least I own something by that. I hope you're gonna enjoy reading, piece!)

* * *

 ***Rothrist, Lieutenant's** **barracks** **, 15:00 PM, 25th of June***

Marco was sitting at his desk looking at several maps and over and over again reading the latest reports of some different human fronts with a worried expression and panic sweat all over his body. He knew that if he failed to retake Ironmood in the following month he would have to pay with his life and if he wasn't in charge some other psychopath would come in charge. Of course, Marco was a lieutenant in the human lines but he hated war and the stupid reasons humans and mammals tended to hate each other.

Marco had the job of planning the attacks and invasion in the Zootopian district, so that meant that he had to take control of what was happening in Ironmood, Rothrist, Sarnen and Ascona. He also had to torture important prisoners to get them to speak, although he made some 'slip ups' and let them get away on a regular basis, though not too often to get suspicious. He mostly put his efforts into keeping important enemy Lieutenants and Colonels alive and getting them back to their barracks safely.

He wanted this war to be over quickly and if possible with both sides having the same territories they had before the war, though if that plan didn't succeed he was ready at any time to let the humans lose war. In a certain aspect he could almost be described as a crazy madman if he didn't do it for the simple fact of showing the humans that they weren't godlike creatures that were above all other living beings on this planet. He hated humankind for their ignorance and arrogance.

As Marco just opened a new letter and started reading the headlines one of his guards entered the room. Marco, without looking up knew that it had to be Garry because only he forgot to knock all the time. Marco held up his hand as a symbol for Garry to wait, and so he did until his Commander lifted his sight from the letter to him.

"What's so urgent that you don't even knock before coming in, Garry?" Marco asked with a stern voice but a slight twinkle of humor in his eyes.

"Sorry, sir I forgot again. News from the front in Sarnen! Our forces have managed to break through the fort of the mammals and are now engaging in a rushing battle for the center of the city to push the mammals out of there. We will finally have our most historical city back under control." Garry issued a quick salute and waited on the comment of his superior.

"Very well, my plan has worked. Let's see if we can manage to retake Ironmood as well. It just fell four days ago and I've just gotten the news. The Emperor wants me to retake it in a months' time, else I will have a meeting with him. In his office." Marco had a lump in his throat and swallowed hard but empty a few times to try and get it away.

Everyone knew that if you had a meeting with the Emperor in his office it meant that you'll get executed by him and nothing else. Marco wanted to bring the humans to fall, yes but he wasn't ready to die yet. Not before he had secured the ending of this war.

* * *

 ***Rothrist, Lieutenant's** **barracks** **, 18:00 PM, 25th of June***

After a long day of planning some attacks, some destined to fail, others almost sure of success, Marco finally left his Office to go into the pub with some of his soldiers. He had quite a few soldiers under his command that were in on his plans, though these were only a few since he knew that a lot of simple soldiers believed the propaganda of the empire. Slogans like

-Die Verleumdete Armee, wieder aufgebaut. (The slandered army, rebuilt.)

-Die Siegeszüge der Elite, die Ehre der Bürger, (The triumphs of the elite, the glory of the folk)

-Ich hab 'nen Kameraden, 'nen bessren findest nicht. (I've a comrade, there's no better)

And also some posters showing young boys walk proudly in uniforms, behind them a Lieutenant of the human army and a slogan that said "The Generals of the future, educated today!" under the whole depiction.

Marco just frowned at it all and thought of how wrong it all was, to brainwash people like that to follow blindly, even if you were doing the wrong in the name of pure evil. Marco just was ashamed of his kind and didn't really know how to describe it with words how he felt about it. Some examples of words that came close would be ashamed, mortified, doubting and hating.

* * *

 ***Meiringen, human aerodrome, 16:00 PM***

The pilot squadron that went by the name of 'Juliuskranz' was exercising. This squadron has gotten famous mainly thanks to 2 twin brother pilots. Aleksey and Aleksander Beljajew were the two pilots that were the best the world had seen up to that point. They had made several aces after only 2 years of flying and gotten dozens of medals and promotions and other stuff you get when you're good at killing during war. The twins weren't flying at the moment however, they were just watching the planes of their comrades fly around and about, trying several stunts that the brothers had mastered and improved. One of their favorite moves was to fly straight at each other when they had someone at their tails and in the last second both turn to the right and let the enemies that were following them crash into each other. Also Aleksander liked to pull the Immelmann move quite often to get behind his follower and then shoot him down.

These twin brothers were very well known among both sides of the war, human and mammals. While it was an astonishing achievement to be known by almost everyone that fought and even a lot of civilians, also on both sides, it also brought a big danger with it. Everyone wanted to be the one claiming that they shot the legendary enemy pilot down, if not both of them. In almost every fight their squadron engaged in they both had at least 3 followers after only 2 minutes because they were such sought-after kills.

They tried painting their planes differently after each mission to not stand out but their skill quickly gave them away again. It was nerve wrecking to know that every single day could be the last one you'll be spending with you twin. It got under both their skins but they tried not to show it, just like everyone else, to just forget about it whenever they could and live the happy little life they had while not fighting, but the dark thought of the real world, of what really was happening always lurked in the back of their minds. Constantly they were reminded of the dangerous and bitter lives they were leading and there was no way to escape it except for engaging in it as often as they could to end the war as quickly as they could.

As the other pilots finished their exercises and landed one after another and brought their planes into place to be fueled up again and let the mechanics check them for some damage they joined the Beljajew brothers and went to the tavern with them all. They had a few drinks, talked about timely stuff, listened to sports on radio and played other table or card games. They just enjoyed themselves in the tavern and forgot about the deadly skies that were above them for the moment.

Later on some girls that were on the hunt for some sexy flyer boys came and with them quite a few of the pilots vanished rather quickly into the back of the tavern or into a more private booth to mind their business.

After several hours of relaxing, playing games and drinking in the tavern the twins left to get back to their barracks and get some sleep. As a pilot you never knew when you had to go up into the air the next time.

* * *

 ***Ironmood, City's center, 18:30 PM, 25** **th** **of June***

Nick was sitting around on some stones cleaning his rifle and talking to some of the soldiers that were gathered here on the plaza as a courier jogged up to him and asked him of his identity. After Nick confirmed that he indeed was Nicholas Wilde the courier saluted quickly and gave him a letter. Nick took it and saluted back before the courier made his way to other soldiers to hand them their letters.

"Hmm. A letter? Who could it be from?" Nick knew who it was from in the back of his mind but he just couldn't get the name to jump to his mind so he looked the envelope over.

"Ahh. Of course it's from my beloved Judy. How could I just forget? Oh god! I should think about writing her too, after all I promised her…." Nick opened the envelope with curiosity and was glad to find that it was a rather long letter.

* * *

Dear Nick

I hope this letter reaches you while you're well and healthy. I heard the news of our forces finally being able to capture the city of Ironmood. Even though I don't know a lot about the war, I know that Ironmood was an important point in their line of defense. With their defeat there our forces now have a free way to Rothrist, the capitol of the human's Iron manufactories and Tank factories. A few days ago a small human army made their way through bunny-burrow and I got my first glimpse at war. It is the most terrible thing I ever had to witness. Sever men were killed in front of my eyes in ways so brutal I couldn't even have fantasized about. I'm wondering how you manage to stay sane while having to endure this all, but after all you're doing the right thing. The human army consisted of some tanks, infantry and trucks, which most certainly were transporting soldiers and goods. I don't know where they were heading but they got assaulted by one of our Zootopian flyer corpses and had rather heavy losses while our pilots lost about 7 planes. I really hope you are well and can come by to visit me soon again. I'm missing you more with every day that goes by and I'm praying for you every day to keep the lord's protecting hand over you. I don't know what I would do in a world without you, my dear Nick. I often have dreams about us two, more often than I'd like they are nightmares of me losing you but there are also happy dreams of the time you were here, with me. Sometimes I also dream of the time after the war, and how we happily live our lives at each other's side. I can only hope that those dreams, these small sparkles of hope in this dire time, come true and grant us our deepest wishes. I hope you soon find the time to write me back and keep me informed over your health and troubles. Over here in Bunny-burrow nothing special happened if you look past the fact that the humans passed through here a few days ago and beneath normal Agriculture work and a few small reunions of other rabbit families that live close to us with their sons that had went to war nothing else happened. As weird as it sounds I really hope your life is also not much more thrilling at the moment. I really hope that you will make it out of there fine and well, Nick.

With the deepest regards of safety and love,  
yours truly, Judy

* * *

At the bottom of the Letter, next to her name Judy had placed a kiss onto the letter with a little heart drawn next to it. As weird as it may be, Nick was desperate for her and wanted to refresh his memories of her so he simply kissed the letter where Judy's lips had imprinted it and then proceeded to even lick that spot, though that was like kissing because, after all, Nick was a canine.

Nick couldn't help but smile at her letter. It really helped to lower his feeling of loneliness here at the camp. He packed the letter back into the envelope and went into the barracks grabbing a piece of paper, a pen and started writing a letter for Judy.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 18:00 PM, 25th of June***

Judy was working on the fields together with her siblings and she felt a lot better since she had written the letter to Nick yesterday. She hoped that the letter had reached him safely though she couldn't help but have a feeling that he somehow was in danger. Judy felt fear trickle down her spine at that thought and tried to get it out of her mind quickly again through thinking about the evening before Nick left. It was wonderful how they just talked about their personal lives and spent the time together. She blushed as she remembered how touchy the fox had gotten later into the night and used the excuse that he is a nocturnal mammal. Judy just was there, in the middle of the field, kneeling in the dirt, enjoying the blue skies and the smell of her home and the cool breezes that regularly came rolling over the plateau.

Suddenly Judy heard a loud roar, though it wasn't the roar of a mammal, it was the roar of a motor though she knew no vehicle with such a mighty motor. She looked over the horizon to see where that thing was and jerked as the loud roaring went over above her head. She looked into the sky and saw planes, though it they were constructed completely differently from these she had seen attacking the humans. She instantly assumed that these had to be the planes of humans and told everyone to lay down onto the ground and not move. After a few minutes the roaring went off into the distance and finally was silenced completely.

Judy and her siblings, though a bit shocked, got back to their work and could only wonder why the humans have gotten so active here the past few days. Judy just thought that they were trying to recapture Ironmood and didn't give it any further thoughts than that.

When it was finally getting dark she and her family members returned back to their family's house that was actually more of a burrow since they were bunnies. The house was built into the ground and had countless foyers, corridors and rooms. In the middle of the whole construction was a giant hall where you could see all the 6 floors this massive burrow had. The hall had the form of an egg and at there were giant tables since the whole family used to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the hall.

Judy took a quick shower before dinner and when her mother called everyone in for dinner sat at the table that was reserved for her generation of rabbits. During dinner she made some Smalltalk with her siblings about things that happened recently. After dinner she went back into her room and started to write another letter to Nick. She couldn't await his first letter for him though she slowly was getting worried for him. She wondered if he had gotten injured that he didn't write to her in such a long time though she didn't want to think about that. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind quickly to not get worried over something that wasn't guaranteed.

After she wrote the letter she again applied a lot of lipstick and then kissed it in the bottom right corner and drew a heart next to the print of her lips. This time she even searched for a photo and clipped it onto the letter with a paperclip and then put it in an envelope.

She then laid into her bed an let her brain wander through her memories until sleep took her and she slumbered dreaming about her sweet, loving, brave and strong fox.

* * *

End of chapter 14

(Notes: This chapter was a lot of fun, especially since I finally introduced 3 characters that are going to have a huge impact on the story. I hope you enjoyed reading and as always, please give some feedback to help me improve. Lots of love, bye!)


	39. A Short Friendship

***Tri-burrows, inner Fields, 20:00 PM, 25th of June***

The Tank division that was driving through the Tri-burrows was attacked for the second time yesterday, luckily they had no vehicle losses unlike the first time. They had started their journey with 7 Tanks, 4 Trucks and 200 Infantry troops. Now, after 5 days of travelling the burrows, they were down to 6 Tanks, 4 Trucks and about 140 Infantry troops.

Kayden was sitting inside his tank, happily eating a sandwich and looking through the spy slip to see what was happening outside while his colleagues were all sitting on top of the tank to get away from the pent-up heat inside the tank and also to be able to stretch a bit since it was damn tight in these tanks.

Kayden just sat there, watching the sky through the spy slit and was fascinated at the clear skies and the pretty stars in the night-sky. Back in his hometown they could only see few stars because of the different particles and gases in the air that reflected the light away and blocked the the stars from shining all the way through to the city.

As Kayden had finished his sandwich he poked his head out of the hatch of the tank and bumped his fist onto the steel of the tank once to get the attention of his comrades.

"Guys, it's time to continue going. Pack up your stuff and get ready to cramp back into this mobile oven." He said with slight annoyance but also a bit of anticipation as he knew that it always was fun to hang around in the tank with his best mates and make some jokes and laugh about pretty much everything while they were driving through these pretty fields.

His friends replied with a simple "'K then" to make fun of his name since it was pronounced in a very similar way and was short for 'okay then'. His friends all looked at each other trying to hold in their laughs but as they saw the faces of each other they just blurted out with laughter and after some time got red faces from blood rushing into their heads from all the laughing.

After they finally calmed down from their laughing session they slowly smoked their cigarettes done and then climbed into the tank again, preparing for the drive they had ahead of them and trying to catch a bit of sleep even if it was almost hopeless since these Tanks were really cramped and rumbled a lot since they didn't have really good suspension.

When Kayden started up the engine of the metallic beast again and let the 52 tons slowly get into motion and roll down the road. Their mission was to reach the base the mammals had created on the outskirts of the Tri-burrows and to destroy it and then occupy the whole tri-burrows for the profit of the agriculture the several bunny families practiced here.

As much as Kayden hated to take all a person has he had to admit that it was for the good and for the efforts of the war, after all the vegetables and wheat they'd get from here were much needed food for their army.

Kayden was the driver of his Leopard 2 tank while Max was the loader, Ferris being the gunner and Boris was the Commander. Together they were a crew of 4. Originally it was planned to give every tank a crew of 5 with 2 gunners, one for the tank's gun and a second for the machinegun that was mounted on the tank's turret, but they had too less people and too less rations to give out so the crew was reduced to 4 taking away the second gunner.

Kayden was happy about that decision a lot of times since it would be even more cramped in the tank as 5 though in a battle another gunner could be really handy in a lot of situations but it didn't matter that much since often a few soldiers were close enough to just man the machinegun and use it for the moment.

As soon as they started to drive on the other tanks started following after they had finished their meals and cigarettes as well and started to catch up as well as the trucks and the infantry. They might have been only a few men but they certainly had top equipment with 6 Leopard 2 tanks, 4 trucks that transported heavy machineguns and soldiers and 140 more ground troops.

They were almost certain that they were going to take over the mammal base in the tri-burrows, especially since the Golden Battalion, which defended this base beforehand, was out on duty in Ironmood again and that meant that the base was defended by less experienced and less drilled soldiers now, which made it easier to take it over.

According to their navigation officer it would take them 1 more day to reach the base, then they would have to prepare everything and fuel up their tanks and organize everything perfectly and then wait for night's darkness again, which in total would make about 40 hours until they'd start their attack.

Kayden and his comrades were all certain that it would be a very one-sided fight with them having 4 Heavy machineguns and 6 tanks. Actually a lot of their troops didn't even know what exactly they'd have to expect since nobody knew for certain what for the mammals had that base. The also didn't know who defended it or how and with what but they were quite certain that they didn't have any hidden new weapons in there so they were quite easy about it.

As Kayden felt more and more tired he let Max take over the tank since it didn't take any real talent to drive along a road and he really needed some time to at least close his eyes. Who knows maybe he'd even be able to fall asleep? Kayden opened his eyes again as he felt someone shake his shoulder.

"Oy, Kayden wake up! We're 'ere." A voice with a rough accent said.

"What do you mean with 'we're here' to be exact?" He asked with an annoyed tone for being woken.

As Kayden looked at the person who woke him in annoyance he had to blink a few times to see the person clearly and then saw that it was Ferris. He wondered why he didn't know so because of the accent. Ferris was the only one with a different accent than all of them since they all had the typical Helvetian accent while Ferris had that of a Habsburger. *(Helvetian = Swiss | Habsburger = Austrian)

 ***Ironmood, outskirts, 12:00 PM, 26th of June***

As The human invasion army readied themselves and fueled the tanks and prepared other things, like spotting good places for their snipers, a good hidden route for them to take during the attacks that was ideally even covered by some trees. While Boris and the other Tank commanders went to talk with the navigation officer and the Lieutenant which was in charge of this whole mission all the other soldiers searched around for some hidden spots to make a way through for their attack.

As some of the soldiers were searching others just went behind some trees and emptied out their bladders and also let go of a pound of fertilizer. Kayden also had to go and pee since he didn't do that in a long time. As he went behind a tree and unzipped his army pants and let his 'friend' out at the fresh air and let go of the yellow liquid he heard a twig break behind him. As he turned his head he saw that it was a young bunny who was spying on him. It seemed as if the bunny didn't notice that he saw it yet so he finished peeing and then slowly walked behind the tree where he waited a bit. When the bunny came into view again he quickly jumped at it and caught a leg of it. He quickly muffled it and laid on top so it couldn't free itself.

AS the bunny slowly stopped to struggle he took both its arms into a hand and used his scarf to muffle it by shoving it into the bunny's mouth. After that was done he used his belt to tie it's hands together and then took the scarf out of his mouth and tied it around his head instead, still muffle the bunny with it.

He noticed that the bunny was crying and tried to somehow calm it down a bit. He knew if he presented him to his Lieutenant he would be redeemed but this young child would also be killed. He didn't know where the bunny came from and he didn't know why it was here either. He thought of all the English he knew and tried to talk to the bunny. He slowly took the scarf off its mouth and pressed his finger against his lips as a sign to the bunny to be silent.

"You must be silent, ok?" He asked with a worried expression as he feared that the bunny would scream any moment. He nervously looked around if anyone saw them. When he was sure that no one was close he took the bunny into his arms and walked deeper into the forest.

"Okay. Why are you here?" He asked with a stern voice and an angered expression as he crossed his arms and stood there with his legs apart.

"I heard noises and wanted to check it out. I swear I always do that because I'm curious!" The bunny said with clear fear in his voice as he tried to make himself as small as possible and hide behind anything that would come across.

"I don't care about that. You must promise that you won't tell, okay?" Kayden asked as his stance eased and his voice got a bit softer. He now kneeled down and touched the bunny's shoulder gently. The bunny slightly flinched at that and then started to quiver as though he was expecting to get flayed any moment.

"Hey, easy there. I won't hurt you, I promise. I just need to know if you will tell anyone, okay?" He asked letting go of the bunny again but staying close to him in case he would try to run away.

"I-I swear I w-w-won't tell anyone! I swear!" The bunny said as he slowly started to sob and let his head drop.

"Are you hungry? Do you want some food?" Kayden softly asked as he took a piece of dark bread out of his vest and unwrapped it from its cloth. He showed it to the bunny to let him decide.

The bunny just shook his head without looking at it.

"You humans eat us, don't you? I mean us other mammals." The bunny said with a lot of fear and panic in his voice and then looked the human in the face.

Kayden just stood his ground and thought of something to say to him.

"Scheisse was verzehlet die sich bloss für sache über eus?(Shit what kind of things do they accuse us of?). No I never ate another mammal before, I promise. And I think only very few humans do that actually. I've never met someone who ate a mammal before. Look this is just bread. I swear."

The bunny looked at it hesitantly as though the human was trying to trick him. He slowly stretched out his paws, which still were bonded, and took the piece of bread and then sniffed at it. He carefully took a bite out of it and started to chew. Then his eyes grew really wide and he hid himself behind the human. Kayden was a bit confused and looked behind him and saw that there was another soldier.

"Hey, was verstecksch da?" (Hey, what are you hiding there?)

"Nüt wo dich z'interessiere hätt und jetz verschwind!" (Nothing you have to care about and now be gone!)

"Ich glaub das gaht mich sehr wohl öppis ah! Verrat am Imperium isch es, wemmer es Tier verstecke will!" (I think I do have to care! its treason to hide an animal!)

Kayden had to think fast now so he just took his pistol and shot the man in the head since he knew that he would tell the lieutenant for sure. As the fellow human's head twitched back because of the bullet passing through his skull as the helmet fell off the corpse fell onto its knees and then fell completely to the ground with the face buried in the ground of the forest. Kayden turned arounf to the now extremely terrified bunny.

"Did you see any of that?"

"No, I only heard the shot!"

"Good. Your young eyes aren't supposed to see things like that. You know, your family probably told you that we humans love war and to kill but we hate it just as much as you other mammals do. We humans too have feelings and emotions, we also love, laugh and feel sorrow if one of our friends dies."

The bunny looked at Kayden with big eyes as he kept munching on the bread and had a gaze of wonder and curiosity.

"So… do you also, like, have children? Because my momma and poppa told me that all humans are created by the devil only to destroy and kill." The bunny said as his voice got a bit more quiet and ashamed.

"Well, we do have kids yes. And most humans actually are very friendly but there are some that hate mammals extremely just like some mammals hate humans very much. You see, I imagine that this planet is a scale and that there is always a balance between good and evil people no matter their race. There are always evil and good people to be found in all species."

The bunny just looked really interested at him an sat down to talk some more when Kayden felt an immense pain in his lower body. He quickly turned around and just shot behind him. He saw that he actually had hit the person that had shot at him as he got to mention as that the man was holding his throat and blood was streaming out from between his hands.

The now kneeling soldier was trying to clear his throat and struggled for life as he made disgusting gurgling sounds. Kayden just looked at the young bunny with wide eyes and a bit of panic in his gaze as he shivered.

"Run! Run as fast as you can back home before anyone catches you! NOW!" He screamed with fear as he shooed the bunny away.

Kayden looked after the bunny for a few seconds before taking the magazine put of his pistol and counting the shots. He had 8 more shots and knew that it won't be enough so he went to the still struggling soldiers and took his pistol's magazine as well and his food. He did the same with the corps of the other man and then vanished into the forest as he knew that his fellow soldiers would instantly kill him.

As Kayden ran a few meters he heard shots and noticed them fly past him or hit something close to him. After some time he just stopped running and turned around. He returned fire and killed 4 more people before another shot hit him in the hips and caused him to fall to his knees. He tried to crawl away though being in immense pain made that task quite difficult. Kayden knew that there was only one way out of this.

He crawled behind the closest tree and just leaned against it and waited until the others would come. He already had the capsule filled with poison in his mouth so he just had to bite down on it to get the poison into his system and then die before they could capture and torture him. He thought about all his beautiful childhood moments and about his girlfriend that would be told that he died 'heroically in battle'. Kayden snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the trampling of a soldier close to the tree he hid behind.

He quickly leaned forwards and shot while also biting down on the capsule. In pure shock he realized that he just had shot the young bunny that was talking to him beforehand. He luckily only hit his arm and nothing else but it definitely was enough to get a loud uproar from the bunny and make him cry. Kayden himself spit out as much of the poison as he could but he knew that there already was some in his system.

He quickly crawled over to the young bunny and took him into his arms and begged for forgiveness. The young bunny just kept crying and weeping and made Kayden cry too at his fault. He completely forgot about the fact that he was being hunt down, or was he?

The other soldiers would have found him long ago if they really hunted him. They probably thought that he died from the shot since he dropped to his knees and didn't even search for him.

"Why did you come back? I told you to go home!" Kayden said with a panicked voice as he tried to comfort the young buck. Kayden looked at the bunny and talked with a calm voice to him.

"Alright come on. You're a strong young man aren't you? You can bear that bit of pain, right? I bet your dad would be proud to know that his son was brave enough to fight against a human and not even weep for long because of a little wound." Kayden wrapped his scarf around the wound to try and stop the bleeding.

As the wound was covered by the scarf now he gently took the bunny's face in his hand and showed him the wound.

"See? It's not even big. It barely hurts, does it?" Kayden smiled at him and tickled him a bit to try and take the bunny's concentration from the pain. Then Kayden remembered something. They all had some special medicine that improves your strength, enhances your concentration and lowers the awareness of pain.

He took the syringe and injected a third of the content right into the bunny's shoulder. After a few minutes the buck was okay again and led Kayden to his home. Kayden knew that he would never make it there. He would die before because of the poison he had swallowed but he followed the bunny nonetheless because he didn't want to tell the bunny that he practically was already dead.

They walked through the forest for quite some time and Kayden felt more sick and weak by the minute. As they made it out of the leaf covered path of the forest they crossed a simple dirt road and then continued to walk along sheer endless fields of all sorts. Between the fields there were rows of trees to protect the fields from strong wind. It mostly were apple or pear trees but also a few plum and lemon trees. As finally a barn came into view from behind a hill Kayden collapsed onto his knees.

"What's wrong, mister? Aren't you feeling well?"

"N-no. Everything's fine" Kayden lied as he felt his guts turn and spin. It felt like his stomach was getting crushed from within. He felt as the contents of his stomach slowly made their way up his throat. He turned away to the side of the path and threw up into the tall grass that was between the dirt road and the small path they were on. Kayden looked at the puddle of vomit and saw that there was some boll in it.

"O crap" he whispered silently to himself but since the young bunny had such good ears he heard it as well.

"You aren't okay! You lied! Why did you lie? Come on my momma can help you for sure!" The young buck said as he pulled at Kayden's arm but Kayden didn't even try to get back up since he knew he'd just collapse soon again.

"No. I won't make it. I'm sorry but….. I'll have to leave you. Please, remember me as a human that was friendly and think of me whenever you feel like there's only wrong in the world. Don't forget me." Kayden had tears in his eyes as he saw that the bunny knew that he would die.

Kayden tried to look at the hare but he couldn't all he could do was kneel on all fours and let his head hang between his arms as he looked at his own legs. As Kayden slowly lifted his head to look at the ground under him he noticed that at the feet of the young buck there were a few tears slowly sinking into the ground.

"I'm sorry…..I didn't…..tell you. Remember me as Kayden. That's my name. It was….. nice to meet…..you…" Kayden collapsed onto the ground as froth formed around his mouth and he gurgled while his eyes slowly took on a milky and glassy look and weren't fixed on anything anymore. His body twitched a few times and he took his arms in front of his head and attracted his legs as close to his body as he could while shivering.

Kevin, the young bunny, just looked at him and fell to his knees crying absurdly at the whole scene. This again attracted the attention of a few bunnies that were close, and could hear him cry. As a few of his older brothers came close they all froze as they saw that their younger sibling was right next to a human.

"KEVIN! What did he do to you! Quick come here!" One of his older brothers yelled with a worried voice.

"Jan go get father shotgun!" another one yelled.

Kevin just sat there crying at his dead friend. He looked around, his vision blurry due to the tears in his eyes. He talked with a lump in his throat.

"No please…. He needs help. He is a kind man. He saved me from other humans. Please get momma to help him! Please!" He wept and wailed while talking to his older siblings.

"Are you crazy? He's a human! They only want to kill us!" One of his brothers said with a conflicting voice.

"NO! He helped me! In the woods there were a lot of humans and he protected me from them with his own life." He kept crying while remaining next to his friend.

"Then how comes you're bleeding at your arm?" Another one of his elder siblings asked with a concerned voice.

"Because I was shot by one of the humans." Kevin said though he didn't tell them that it was Kayden since that would only make it harder to convince them.

As Kevin remained at the side of his friend his mother came closer which also hesitated for a moment as she saw the human but then continued to come closer to her young son.

"What's wrong, Kevin? What happened to….. him?" She uttered the last word with a bit or trouble as she didn't necessarily like humans.

"He needs help momma! Something is wrong with him. He helped me get away from other evil humans. I swear he is a good soul!"

His mother just looked at the man who was lying on the ground.

"But sweetie, he is….gone. I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do. The best we could do now is to bury him in the forest somewhere. I'm really sorry" His mother said as she hugged him tightly. She herself didn't like humans but as it seemed her little Kevin really had a good time with that man.

"Good god, what is that!" She yelped as she saw the wound on Kevin's arm.

"We'll need to get that treated immediately! As for you, boys, get that man to the porch and we'll bury him some-when."

The older rabbits murmured in annoyance that they had to carry human, a dead one at that, all the way to the porch from the fields to later probably carry him back to the forest where they'd then have to even bury him.

End of chapter 15


	40. The dirge

(Disclaimer: Zootopia and it's charatcers belong to Disney, this story belongs to me. I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter and embrace the new style of writing I approache in this chapter. Have fun!)

* * *

 ***Ironmood, outskirts, 12:00 PM, 26th of June***

Ironmood has fallen a few days back and with that they were stuck deep in enemy territory. Even though there were already troops and human forces on the way to retake Ironmood, the phantom squad knew nothing of it yet and they wandered about in the sheer endless woods and meadows of the province of Ironmood.

As the sun rose up and lit the sky and made it seem ads though it was burning the soldiers made their way through the woods and meadows along endless paths that vanished into the shadows of forest and later emerged back into the suns golden glow.

The soldiers still had to adapt to the loss of their friend, Chester. Though they were singing the morale held itself rather low as everyone noticed that the best and most important voice was missing.

As they walked on and on the fire in the clouds slowly faded away as the sun rose more and more to it's inevitable climax to then fade away again and give way to night's darkness though that did not stop the soldiers to keep walking, without sleeping for hours, days or maybe even weeks. Nobody knew for sure how long since they've slept but they didn't care either since they all took their pills they had for emergency situations and being away from your own front more than 30 Kilometers did seem like an emergency indeed.

As the sun was rising yet once again they got a look at each other's faces again in what seemed like several days though it only were few hours. They were shocked to see the bags under each other's eyes and how pale they've become and how they were shuttering and quivering nonstop. They also looked like they've lost a lot of muscles in only a few days. Or were it weeks? They have lost all feeling of time and didn't even notice when it was day or night since they were hallucinating. The only thing that indicated them into the believing of it being day was that they could see each other for all their malice.

The soldiers didn't know when they ate their last meal either but they didn't feel any hunger. How could they? It could have been a few hours since their last meal. Or a few days. Or a few weeks. They did not notice that they have wandered in circles as they couldn't recognize their surroundings as anything else but glowing, shining and colorful objects during day and bleak, pale silver-glowing objects during night.

Their mental and physical condition was annihilated by their countless hours of wandering without sleeping, eating and drinking. Their morale sunk more and more since they refused to speak to each other. They had stopped singing some… time ago. It seemed like they were singing just a few minutes ago but it also seemed like they didn't sing in weeks.

None of them even had a clue why they were wandering into the endless fields and forests. They had forgotten that they were in live danger, they also forgot that they should have retreated back to Ironmood as well as they had forgotten that there was a war going on. They had even forgotten that there was something like a 'normal' world where nothing did shine, glow and look bleak and pale in regular cycles.

They almost lost their self-awareness and consciousness since all they did for the time they could remember back was walk. Some when, during day they told themselves, JJ had begun to sing again. It wasn't a song they had ever heard before but the rhythm and the chant made them walk faster and more eager as well as it made them hungry. They hadn't felt the feeling of hunger in such a long time that they forgot what that feeling warned of. They didn't know what to do against it except keep walking. The song they were singing could be described as a dirge, a song of the dead that kept zombies like them going. One could only know this rhythm and the words to sing accordingly to it, if they were half-dead. A Zombie. Neither living really, nor being completely dead.

All the soldiers were in such a state and so they were able to sing the chant and walk to it until they would be seized by death as a reward for giving them a chance to find back into live by letting them go more motivated in their final days with this chant. There was a chance they could snap out of this state but only by finding back into live by interaction with others. May it be medical attention, trading shots with mammals or just talking to people of their kin.

But it looked dire for them. They were still walking in circles for what seemed like an endless amount of time. As they were once again able to throw glances at each other and see what sort of abominations they have become they finally had a chance to spring back into live or at least get redeemed from their suffering state of spirit and flesh. They were spotted by enemies which, of course, instantly took cover and hid themselves in the fields while shooting at them.

The phantom squad, which consisted of Zombie-like men by now didn't notice much at first. The gunshots were only heard as dull drum hits in the dirge they heard in their heads but with time it got louder and more distracting. It slowly brought them out of their miserably state until they snapped out of it completely. They all stopped walking and looked at each other. They still looked terrible and like undead but the chant of the dirge slowly faded from their minds like fog in the dusk creeps back into the valleys.

They took some time until they completely realized that they were being shot at and finally took cover. Their terrible state made them slow and fragile in their movements but they managed to fight the mammals into them retreating back. Though not at low expense since almost all of them now had wounds, either from shots or from stressing their body that much suddenly.

They had returned from their horrible state but now were desperately clinging to live in panic to not get swallowed by death's greedy throat. After they had fought the mammals off the first thing they did was treat themselves with some medicine, after that they ate and drank greedily half of their rations which were thought for 3 months. They ate half of it in 2 hours. After feasting greedily on their meals they let the heavenly feeling of sleep roll over them.

Though it was in the midst of day they slept like newborn ones. Nothing could have woken them at that point as they were soundly slumbering in the fields of the tri-burrows. Instead of walking towards Ironmood they have walked about 5 circles slowly walking further away from Ironmood into the Tri-burrows.

* * *

 ***Tri-burrows, outer fields, 22:00 PM, 25h of August***

As the sun stepped down from heaven to ascend down behind the horizon and let the moon take it's throne to rule over the darkness the soldiers finally awoke again from their 2-day nap. They felt hungry again so they ate another fourth of their rations and then searched after a farm to maybe swipe away some fruits and vegetables and definitely water, since their throats were drier than the Sahara desert.

They were lucky to awake at night because that made it a lot easier to steal, in the safety of night's darkness. After wandering about an hour they found a small farm and started to fill their bellies with apples and pears from the nearby trees and then went on to search the several barns for water. After painfully and carefully searching through 3 barns they finally found something in the fourth barn.

As they feasted on the water and beer that was stored in there they slowly but surely got drunk. So drunk in fact that they didn't notice the bunny with a shotgun aiming at them. As Ramtin finally noticed the blurry form standing at the door of the barn he jumped onto the ground, roughly landing on his belly by doing so and vomiting all over the ground. That fact was enough to make the bunny flinch and miss the shot.

As the loud bang of the gun going off sounded through the barn all soldiers flinched and in pure panic running in all different directions while Ramtin was struggling fearfully to get back in his legs but he just stumble several times over his own legs and arms while trying to get back up and finally fell onto the bunny who froze completely out of fear.

As Ramtin looked at the buck, with glassy eyes he acknowledged its small twitching nose, it's wide, fearful eyes and the ears that it had laid back behind its head. Ramtin, being so drunk, completely forgot that they were at war with these creatures so he sat up, apologized and stretched out his hand trying to introduce himself but only babbling unintelligible words while doing so.

The buck just snapped completely and ran out of the barn with his arms in the air flailing them like crazy and vanishing into the darkness. JJ came back into view from behind some hay bales and then took the way too small shotgun and looked at it.

"Mph, interesting model. I'll take that thing with me I… *hic* to keep it as a trophy." JJ blabbered in a very satisfied mood while his eyes were getting glassy and slowly his eyelids folded down over his eyes.

Then after swaying back and forth a few times he just fell over onto the ground sagging into some hay like a sack of stones while all the same slamming the gun against the ground which triggered it but luckily it had no bullets loaded as Phantom was staring right into the barrel of the gun now.

Phantom slowly, full of shock and angst, crawled away from the guns barrel just to make sure that he wouldn't get shot suddenly. They all fell back to sleep in the middle of their drunken fest. The next morning though they awoke to a giant herd of bunnies and looking at them angrily or fearfully and having some sort of weapon in their hands. They either had hay-forks or hoes or sharp-edged shovels.

AS Ramtin looked over the crowd of bunnies that this was gonna be a fun morning as he still was a little tipsy from last night and didn't know where he had left his guns. He knew that they were on the farm everything more than that was a mystery to him. As he opened his eyes more and more in unbelieving realization and crawled backwards and away from the massive crowd of bunnies they all took slow and steady steps towards the 5 almost helpless men.

* * *

End of chapter 16

(Notes: This chapter is very short due to the fact that I, again, approached a different style of writing, this time writing the chapter more like a poem in the beginning than an actual story. Stick around for the next chapter because it will certainly be something different. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!)


	41. A new rebel

***Ironmood, outskirts, 20:00 PM, 25h of August***

The small army of humans that had made their way to the mammal base in the outskirts of Ironmood had delayed their siege attack for almost a whole month on command of the emperor himself as he wanted to use that attack as a distraction of the mammal armies that were stationed in Ironmood so they would come over there to help out.

Through that maneuver they would have less forces in Ironmood so the imperial troops could capture and rebuild their old camp in Ironmood and start the siege game from a new and hopefully hold it again for at least 1 year to give the industry in Rothrist enough time to move back into the alps where they were much safer and more hidden and less prone to airplane attacks.

But here they were now, on the day that they finally would attack the base, readying to take down all resistance in their way and willing to offer their own lives for it. The Emperor told them that it was very important to take down this base and get it under their control to have more information about enemy movements in the outskirts of Ironmood.

The information of transports and airplane provision was crucial if they wanted to retake Ironmood and to get that information they would have to retake that base as the first step in many steps to reach their main goal.

At The moment they were 8 Leopard II tanks and 4 Tiger IV tanks together with 6 transporting trucks, each transporting 1 heavy KPV machinegun as well as 10 soldiers and to finish it all off they were exactly 200 ground troopers.

The Emperor allowed them to stock up on ammunition, soldiers, support vehicles and food since this mission was so important. He also let all the soldiers get checked again if they had 'the right mindset for a human' so that means they were checked for being psychopaths. If they weren't they got executed if they were they were allowed into the troop.

Max, Ferris and Boris had to get a new driver named Olaf. Olaf wasn't a bad pilot and has proved to be capable of quite a few maneuvers to dodge obvious incoming projectiles but that was the least any tank driver should be able to do.

Currently it was a bit after 20 hundred hours and they would have to wait until it was 22 hundred hours exactly. They already had a plan and the paths that they would take were already prepared and everything was done in advance as good as it could be done in advance.

The soldiers all collected around a bonfire and began to sing as a massive group of about 300 soldiers. In a chorus they all sang:

Fährst im wilden Sturm daher, (Ferry in the wild storm,)

Bist du selbst uns Hort und Wehr, (Are you yourself our hoard and weir,)

Du, allmächtig Waltender, Rettender! (You, almighty reigning, rescuer!)

In Gewitternacht und Grauen (In thunderstorm and horror)

Lasst uns kindlich ihm vertrauen! (Let us childlike trust him!)

Ja, die fromme Seele ahnt, (Yes, the devout soul suspects,)

Ja, die fromme Seele ahnt (Yes, the devout soul suspects)

Gott im hehren Vaterland, (God in the glory of the Fatherland,)

Gott, den Herrn, im hehren Vaterland. (God, the Lord, in the glory of the Fatherland.)

They continued to sing that song for over an hour and prepared mentally to be ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater good and the grand empire of the human alliance. Of course it all was propaganda to brainwash the idiots and get their unshared loyalty and it worked perfectly with most sadly. And then people always say humans are clever, incredible.

The commander of this whole venture stepped into the middle of the group, next to the bonfire and let the effect of the golden-orange glow intimidate his soldiers a bit. He pushed out his chest and held his head up high as he started to speak to his troops.

"Men, we are about to execute an order that will change the course of this war completely if we success. If we fail, however our war industry is in high danger due to our failure, which means that we must success-" he stressed the word 'must' a bit to make it clear to everyone how high the importance of success was in this mission and that everyone gave their 100. He glanced around a bit and let his words sink in to strike home in the soldiers, "-elsewise, the emperor will make sure that nobody will soon forget the shame we put onto our names and families. Does everybody remember the plan or do I have to tell you once more?" The commander looked around and scanned the group for any soldiers that had a dazzled look on their face but there were none.

"Alright men. Since you all know what your jobs are and you all are prepared, mentally and physically, I guess we can start the operation now. Go to your stations and be at arms!"

As all the soldiers wandered off to go to their required location they all were waiting for the big thing to happen. The General slowly lifted his arm over his head and looked back at the tanks, which all were standing lined up ready to fire, then he turned to look back forwards. He waited a few more seconds to build a tension. Then, abruptly and quickly he pulled his arm back down to his flank and on that command all the tanks fired and then rushed forward. During the ever so short moment the shots of the tanks lit up the darkness of night it was visible that there were few mammals standing around on the walls of their base.

Said walls were cracked open by the concentrated fire of the tanks and as they charged forwards the foot-soldiers followed behind the tanks to protect themselves from incoming fire. A few single soldiers here and there still were unlucky and got hit by shots that bounced off the tanks in a weird angle and caught them somewhere.

As the tanks kept on driving one of the tanks had the blissful enjoyment of driving onto a landmine and in a result it came to a stop and was pushed into the air a few centimeters. In reaction to all that one of the tracks of the tank came off and swung about it like wild and hit 2 soldiers which instantly died due to the impact being so extreme.

Another tank was driving straight for the hole in the wall and when he got through and drove into the base of the mammals and came to stop and turned its turret the gunner could see a mammal kneeling and holding some weird pipe.

After the gunner processed his shock he wanted to fire but before that he could hear a low-pitched DONK because of something hitting the armor of the tank. The driver had noticed a bulge in the tanks tub right between his legs.

"Lüt? 'Zur höll 'sch das? "(Guys? The hell 's that?) He asked nervously

"Ich han da so e bösi vorahnig…." (I've got a bad assumption) the loader replied with a sad voice and slacking shoulders

The soldiers scrambled in panic and tried to get out of the tank but soon after one of them moved quickly and made the tank shake ever so slightly that 'thing', also known as an HE shell, that had dug itself into the tank's tub exploded and shattered the tank's lower front side which now had a big hole in it and also some corpse parts falling out of it.

The following tank had better luck with the Gunner quickly firing off the shell he had in the barrel of the turret and then quickly going up to the machinegun mounted on the top of the tank's turret and firing around like a psycho killing at least a dozen mammals in the process before his forehead got pierced by a bullet that came out the back of his head, pulling a string of blood after it into the air and making the humans head jerk back before his torso, together with his face fell onto the turret.

At that the loader simply pushed out the gunner's corpse and kept firing away killing off the rest of the mammals that had circled around the hole in the wall. The rest of the tanks streamed in as well as the dozens upon dozens of soldiers, some of them rolling in the machineguns while others were carrying sandbags to make a fortified position right where they were.

The mammals kept on fighting but it was a slowly progressing battle. When the mammals threw a grenade into the fortification the humans had built they just threw a sandbag onto it to make it nearly harmless and if they started to trade shots… well it was obvious that they would lose against dozens of rifles and a dozen of machineguns.

At some point the mammals just raised their hands behind their heads and walked forward, giving up on the whole thing and making it easier for both sides. The General of the humans had other plans though. As a row of mammals was led to him he just looked at them with disgust.

"Line them up at the wall, all of them in a row and make sure the others that haven't given up yet see it."

"Sir?"

"You heard me loud and clear, didn't you?"

"Sir, I did but they're Prisoners of war, we aren't allowed to kill them."

"That's the case if they were humans too but they're not. They're stinking, filthy animals. Now line them up."

"Sir, I refuse to do so!"

"Are you collaborating with our enemy now? You're the filthiest piece of scum that has ever come across me, to do such a thing! Ally yourself with animals that are inferior to us supreme humans! You disgust me. It disgusts me that we're of the same kind. Now do as you're told or I'll shoot you."

"Go ahead sir, do that and you'll split this army into two fractions, one sided with the empire the other one with the mammals. It's your decision sir." The soldier looked his general dead in the eyes with a confident expression and stance, his arms behind his back with his one hand holding the wrist of the other one and his head held high as he tucked one eyebrow up a slight bit as if to challenge the general.

The general just sneered at this and turned around, seemingly acknowledging that his soldier was right.

"Fine. Let's vote for their fate. Everyone who shares the same opinion as me come to my side, everyone who's with Jacob, on his side."

There were a slight bit more soldiers on the side of Jacob so the general, even though struggling to d so, let the mammals get away alive.

The general stepped next to the soldier with a grumpy face and spoke to him in an angry and provoked voice:

"You're going to regret this, soldier. The Emperor will hear of that." He closed his eyes halfway and curled up his lips out of anger while speaking to Jacob.

"You say the animals are the inferior ones but look at how you behave to losing an argument. Like an uncivilized, feral animal. You know Marco won't be glad when he hears that the one under his charge, who clearly had orders to keep all POW alive tried to kill them." Jacob now had a triumphant face and a confident stance again as well as a sly smile in which he curled up his lips a bit more on one side than on the other.

The general's eyes shot open at what he heard Jacob say

"No… not Marco, please!" suddenly the general was the one who was fearful and pleaded. He even went down onto his knees.

"Please! Anything but Marco! He'll torture me into insanity! I beg you! PLEASE!" The general almost started to wince and cry when he saw Jacob give him the cold shoulder and just turn around.

"Who do you think you are you little brat? I'm the one in charge here!" The general rushed for the soldier but stopped shortly before reaching him due to seeing the knife's blade shine in the hand of Jacob.

The general raised his hands and backed off again.

"Alright, what do you want? I'll give it to you as long as you don't tell about me with Marco"

"Your rank and uniform as well as your stars on your shoulder and I want to take charge of this army."

"Wha- are you insane!?" The general baffled with disbelief as he twitched at what he heard.

"You'll be insane when Marco hears about you….." Jacob said with a calm and victory assured voice as he knew that he had the general bagged.

"Fine! Alright! Take them already, they're yours" The general said with shame and ripped the stars off his shoulder and handed them to Jacob.

"Your uniform." Jacob said with a cold tone as he stared past the general as a sign of further disrespect.

"Bu-but you already have my stars… what do you need my uniform for?" the general asked quite nervously as he now was intimidated by the domination Jacob showed.

"I don't need it but neither do you. You're relieved of duty from this very instant on. No worries though I'll tell the emperor about your decision and that you found it better me having the post than yourself and that you wanted to resign from the army. Got it?"

The general just processed this all for quite some time before nodding and slowly, in silent shame, started undressing himself to his underwear and gave his uniform to Jacob.

"Good, now leave you pest-bulge." Jacob spat with a hateful tone.

Under his breath he also mumbled "god I wanted to do that for so long…." And then he trailed off into some more hateful mumbling about his former general.

He then turned around to face the soldiers who were watching either amused or shocked.

"Alright men-"Jacob spoke up with confidence and a slight trace of cockiness " either you can leave right now with the general or follow me on the path to giving birth to our own new, allied nation."

"Who will we ally with?" one of the soldiers asked interested.

"Isn't it obvious? The mammals of course to set an end to the tyrant we all used to call emperor. We all know that he's a madman that would rather see the world burn instead of seeing his idealistic picture of the world fall apart and fail. That's why we have to stop him while we still can."

There were shocked gasps from the crowd but also supportive cheers and whistles.

"Follow me, men and we'll come far. Whoever decides to stand against me though….. stands briefly" He said with a dark voice and an evil expression as he let his arms poke out from behind his back with opened hands as a gesture of showing off his domination and his place at the top.

End of chapter 6

(Du-dun-dunnnn big plot twist! I hope this came as a surprise and got you guys offguard a bit and make this story a bit more interesting again! I hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy the rest of your day. Greetings SMNeff)

(Disclaimer: Zootopia and all its characters belong to Disney, this story belongs to me.)


	42. The plan comes to life

***Rothrist, Lieutenant's Barracks, 22:00 PM, 25th of August***

* * *

Marco was sitting at his desk, smoking a self-rolled cigarette. His eyes were slightly red and he had a goofy smile and was completely relaxed even though he still had a lot of work to complete. His cigarette didn't contain a lot of tobacco, no, it was a mixture of cannabis and tobacco that he smoked. He did that every time he was about to have a breakdown because at such moments he just needed to relax.

As he took another deep puff from the cigarette in his left hand he started to look at the different maps and letters on his desk. In the background there was a song playing from the record player he had right behind his chair, stationed on a small drawer.

As he stared mindlessly at the maps an idea came to his mind.

"Yo, dude. Wouldn't it be, like, totally sick….." He trailed back off into thinking.

"Who am I talking to again?" He looked confused around his room just to realize that he was alone.

"Ah, right. I locked the doors…" He trailed off again laughing at himself, taking yet again another deep puff from his joint.

"Ahhhh- so fucking much shit to do….. n' I haven't even done the hardest stuff yet, hahahaahhah"

He just had to laugh at a dumb thing that he remembered randomly.

"Hoh shit, that was sick…. that one time where y-you, pfffhahahaahahahah" Marco was just losing it at that point thinking about that one time Michael and he were so drunk that they just went into the barracks of soldiers and ordered them to go jog until dawn in the middle of night for their own amusement.

Soon after he had finished his joint he fell asleep in his chair with a content smile on his face and goofy fits of laughter leaving him regularly.

* * *

 ***Rothrist, Lieutenant's Barracks, 08:00 AM, 26th of August***

*Knock, knock, knock*

Marco's eyes shot open and he started to squirm in his chair, trying to keep the balance while that devilish fucker started to tilt back and almost threw Marco off. He flailed his arms around and struggled with his legs to get a hold of his desk with his feet to prevent falling down from the chair. A few panicked "Ah's" and "oh shit's" left Marco as he finally had managed to balance himself out on the chair and his heartbeat slowed down again to a normal rate.

"Yeah? Who's there?" He asked once he had a relaxed attitude again and processed the shock of almost having a heart infarct as the first thing in the morning.

"Sir, it's a really critical letter from the emperor himself." A deep and rough voice said.

"Hold on, I'll let you in soon." Marco moved over to a mirror to look himself over.

'No red eyes, check. Straight face, check. Normal smell, check…kinda' He thought to himself as he quickly fixed his hairstyle and then moved to unlock and open the doors to his personal room.

As Marco opened the lock of the door and slowly pulled one of the double doors open the Soldier on the other side saluted him and waited for Marco's command to step inside.

"Come in. So tell me, what is this letter all about? Do I have to complete an impossible task once again?"

"No sir, not this time, for once, the letter is about you having to move out to Meiringen to our aerodrome and have to assert the Juliuskranz squadron there. We need to use the squadron of elite pilots to take over Ironmood once again and use the airplanes to our advantage since it's known to us that the Zootopian army doesn't have any Flak or anti-air weapons stationed in Ironmood.

"Oh, for the love of god! I'm still not done with the shit I need to do here and he already wants me to organize some other crap in Meiringen? Is that man sane? Does he even realize that a human being can't comprehend such tasks at such a level of stress?"

Marco let his hands rise to his temples to massage them to calm a bit as he closed his eyes and thought for a bit. He sat back down in his chair and told his soldier to take a seat as well, never opening his eyes while doing so.

"Alright. Have you gotten any information as to when I have to arrive in Meiringen?"

"Today evening, sir." The soldier said without twitching a muscle with a cold voice.

"Are you serious? No, that's it. I'm done with this shit! He can't expect me to complete 20% of the work for the whole damn army! I have other things I want to do as well!" Marco freaked out about the time pressure the emperor applied to him non-stop since almost 1 year.

He took his glass on the desk and threw it against the wall to the right-hand side of his desk.

"What a fucking joke! He can't be for real! That's insane!" Marco strolled around his room in as a wave of worry came over him and adrenaline rushed into his blood.

"I've yet to make a plan for countering the attack onto our base in Ironmood and they already want me to make another one! INSANITY!" Marco stormed towards his desk ripping open the drawer in it and grabbing a hold of something. He hesitated for a moment before pulling it out. It was an old fashioned revolver evermore sporting one shot in its drum for one simple reason.

Marco made a quick movement with the gun in his hand and held it against his temple as he looked at the soldier in front of him with a crazed expression.

"Commander! Get your damn shit together! Nobody expects you to do anything else than move out to Meiringen and give notice to the Juliuskranz squadron about them having to serve in Ironmood! Now take that fucking revolver away from your skull or I'll break your every finger!" The soldier rose from his chair and looked Marco dead in the eyes.

"Disrespectful bastard!" He yelled with a disfigured voice and in a fit of rage fueled panic Marco unloaded his one bullet into the chest of the soldier.

"Oh fuck! NO! No-no-no-no-no-no-no." He looked around and tried to mentally list all the things he'd need before departing. He grabbed everything he thought of and left his office with the dead man inside, just wanting to get away as quickly as possible.

As he left his barracks and stormed towards the garage to get a driver and a vehicle to drive him where he was needed he looked around nervously.

He walked as fast as he could with a suitcase in one hand a gun in his other hand, ready to shoot down anyone that tried holding him back. As much as he hated to shoot his own men sometimes he lost control in a fit of panic just like before.

As he spotted a mechanic he waved at him to come over and so he did.

"Get me to the Aerodrome in Meiringen right now! I need to be there as fast as possible, no exception for other things." Marco sped to the closest jeep and sat in the passenger seat. The mechanic came into the jeep soon after and started the motor and drove off towards Meiringen.

On the road they passed several small checkpoints and smaller villages of humans and a lot of Farmlands and Industrial areas. As they reached the Aerodrome he got out and quickly thanked the driver and left him alone in the car, almost sprinting towards a building in the aerodrome.

Just as Marco reached the first building someone opened the door he passed and out came the locally highest of rank military.

"General Karpf? You're not expected here until evening." The Officer said with a surprised attitude.

"Well, I didn't have much to do anyway so I thought I'd come over sooner so we could talk more exact about the future movements of the Juliuskranz squadron." Marco quickly lied.

"Well then, come in and we'll have a talk" The Officer gestured for Marco to come in. As Marco entered the building he looked around and found it to be very comfortably made of wood with a small fireplace and a proper bar with quite a lot of drinks.

"Want anything to drink? A coffee, a warm cacao or something alcoholic? Or just water?" The Officer asked in good manners as he leaned his hips against his desk.

"Uhm, I'll take a coffee, thanks" Marco looked around the barracks some more, quite interested in the design of it. It had several large tables in booths and next to this area there were some billiard tables as well as some smaller table to play card games at. There also was a record player and a radio on a drawer at the far end of the barracks.

Marco was ripped out of his thoughts as the Officer placed the warm coffee in front of him as well as a tray with a cup of Milk in it and a bowl filled with sugar.

"Help yourself, General Karpf" The Officer said with an inviting hand gesture towards the tray and a friendly little smile.

Marco took a spoonful of sugar and dropped it into the coffee stirring it for a bit to make sure that the sugar didn't settle at the bottom of his drink. Marco hen slowly took a sip from the coffee finding it pleasantly warm but not too hot.

"Ah, nothing better than a good coffee in the morning." He said as a content and satisfied sigh left him.

The Officer simply nodded and sat down in his own chair before speaking up "So as you probably know you were ordered here to give us trustful information about one of our moves in Ironmood?"

"Yes, your squadron that goes by the name of 'Juliuskranz' has to move out next week to help the Imperial army in reoccupying Ironmood. A personal and direct order from the emperor himself."

"I am sure that my boys will be available and of good service, Karpf" The Officer slowly turns a bit to the right and then to left over and over again.

"I hope so too." Marco looks at the Officer and notices that he is a bit nervous.

"What's wrong Officer?" Marco asks with a suspecting voice "Anything I need to know?"

The Officer shifts a bit in his seat and looks at him with a testing gaze. "You seem like a man with a common sense of being and like someone who respects life, yes?" The Officer adjusts his position in his chair again before sitting up straight.

"Yes, I do respect life, in all its forms of existence." Marco looked at him interested.

"Well General. You see…. Me and some of my soldiers, though only a few hand-selected and very loyal and trustable men, are plotting something….." The Officer trailed off looking nervously at Marco not sure if Marco would freak out or not.

"Go on, Officer. I won't bite." Marco smiled at him and leaned in closer interested in the topic.

"Well, we are planning a plot to liberate and create our own nation that is free from the Empire's obligations and suppressions. And since you're a good General we could use your help in accomplishing that goal." The Officer whispered as silently as he could while looking at Marco nervously.

"Hmpf. Heh. Hahahahah. That's a daring plan sir. The Empire isn't easy to deal with. We first have to get a few thousand if not a few dozen-thousand soldiers to even start talking about something like liberating ourselves. And from what I've heard you got nothing more than a dozen soldiers. Not to be disrespectful but I don't think we'd have a chance."

The Officer looks at him.

"Please General! Even if we fail we'd at least die in an attempt of showing the world that humans are better than we are portrayed by the Empire!" The Officer pleads towards Marco in distress.

"Officer, I want this as much as you but before we can start our rebellion we need to collect and recruit more men for our thing. I will try to support you where I can, but this is a very dangerous thing we're trying to establish here."

The Officer speaks up again, his hand folded into each other in front of his face with a cool expression and a silent but yet strong voice. "That I am aware of, sir. But we have to try our best."

* * *

End of chapter 18


	43. Chapter 19

***Bunnyburrow, near Hopps Farm, 08:00 AM, 26th of August***

Nick was thinking about all the things that had happened in the last few days. Since they had captured Ironmood after all and they managed to do so way faster that it was planned General Clawhauser gave all the soldiers 2 weeks resting time. Nick of course was overjoyed at that as he could finally go and see Judy again.

And that was what they were doing at the moment. They were walking through the endless fields of the Tri-burrows towards Bunnyburrow to Judy's Family's farmlands. As they were walking they were gossiping about the weirdest things but mostly about all the delicious foods and drinks they could get there.

The smaller ones even considered getting a bunny to fool around with for a bit while the others considered meeting their mates from the Festival they had again. On the road to the Hopps Farm they never noticed how extremely Idyllic this whole scene looked.

Only when Nick stopped to take a break and looked it over exactly he noticed it for the first time exactly how peaceful and harmonic this all was. Nowhere any traces of war to be found and it was beautiful to him.

He could just forget that he was in war at the moment and could finally relax for once. As he breathed in the fresh air of the land, where it didn't reek of death and rot and gunpowder, he could smell the late summer breeze, with the smell of flowers, grass, wheat, different fruits from the trees and also a few things he couldn't define right now but they left a pleasant smell in the air.

He took a few deep breaths, remembering the summers when he still was an innocent boy, clueless of all the crime and cruelty going on in the world, just living his happy little live with no duties or worries in the end of the day.

As he exhaled a breath that he was holding without noticing a small tear formed in his eye as he remembered these days, with his father, mother and brother as they would walk through the park without any worries. Until his father ran away and left them.

From then on his mother barely had time for him as she had to work 2 jobs to bring them through and since she was a fox it only made the salary worse if she didn't get kicked from the job after 2 weeks.

This changed Nick extremely and he got wrapped up in crime and abandoned the way he had always sworn to himself to take. The way of an honest mammal, of a hero. The path of a policeman. Instead he got wrapped up in drug deals, hustles, robberies and even Gang fights which often resulted in the death of several mammals, mostly at the hands of a skilled, young red fox by the name of Nick Wilde.

But at the end of the day this path helped him out now during war as he was a good marksman and had a general understanding of how to move while being shot at and also a few basic things of how to command some other fighters.

After a few minutes of thinking about his path and what could have been if something wouldn't have went the way it did Jamie came up to him.

"Hey Searge, how's you doin'?" Jamie put a paw on Nick's shoulder and rubbed it slightly to comfort Nick as he noticed that Nick wasn't completely alright.

"Eh, nothing much to worry about. Just been fooling in my head about my past and what-not" Nick started to slowly walk again as he wanted to reach Judy's farm as fast as possible.

"Come on boys!" Nick spoke up "Time to get going again! After all a few juicy meals and drinks await us at Judy's farm, eh?" He wandered through his group of soldiers to pick up the route they had planned again.

His boys cheered a bit and started to follow him as they once again wandered through the endless fields, meadows and forests of the Burrow. Every now and then a cloud would shove itself in front of the sun and the soldiers would relish in the coolness it brought with it until the sun would again peek out from behind the cloud and bring its heat with it again.

Soon enough the soldiers found themselves at a river that wasn't too deep but rather broad and had a fast stream. The bridge that originally allowed mammals to pass the river was destroyed and where the bridge once was there now was a tank in the same spot in the river.

"Hella dumb driver who tried to pass a wooden bridge with a warmachine. As far as I know these things weigh up to as much as 50 tons or more. That guy ain't got much brains if he thinks wood can hold that." Zack babbled in his accent as he took off his helmet and scratched the top of his head while shaking it slightly.

"Yeah, true that. However maybe they did it on purpose, who knows?" Jamie replied.

"Oh man, you ain't got much brains either, eh? If they did it on purpose they would've jus' used a grenade or som'thin' like that and not a whole darn tank." Zack looked at Jamie with furrowed brows while face palming.

"Oh sorry mister Einstein I didn't know you're a genius." Jamie replied sarcastically.

"No problem dummy" Zack grumbled.

Tristan walked towards the river and took a few steps into it, testing how deep it was. It didn't go much further than his knees and he turned around.

"Hey guys, it's safe to just walk through it. It isn't that deep and if you stand steady enough the stream won't drag you with it." He turned around again and took another few steps.

Tristan got uneasy as his foot didn't find any hold on ground and as he noticed that it was a big problem it already was too late. He fell into the river and was pulled under the surface by the stream and the heavy weight of his armory.

He struggled against it but his heavy Army equipment dragged him down again and again.

"He-*gurgle* Help! –AAARRGGHHH- HEALP!" Tristan struggled for his life as he flailed his arms up above the surface in the hopes of catching something or getting help.

Nick sprinted and wanted to jump but Jamie held him back in the last few moments.

"Nick! You'll drown as well!" Jamie help Nick back but Nick freed himself and took off his backpack, vest and dropped his rifle onto the riverbank.

He wanted to jump but then noticed that Tristan already was far, far away, being dragged further away from them by the second.

Nick's eyes teared up

"TRISTAN! NOOOOO! TRIIISTAAAAN!" Nick dropped to his knees, his face burrowed in his paws as he sobbed into them, not wanting to believe that he, the sergeant of the group, couldn't help his soldier from dying such a stupid and senseless death.

He kept on weeping until his whole paws and under arms were soaked in his tears. Then he slowly got his vest back on as well as his backpack, picked up his rifle and started walking towards a tree, starting to hack into it with the small axe he had.

He didn't say anything but his soldiers got the idea. They started to help him fell the tree and soon enough they could use it as an improvised bridge to cross the river. After this incident nobody talked anymore. They were just killing the fact that it happened with silence, tried to suffocate it, tried to forget it.

But how could they forget? They all were guilty. None of them had even tried to help. They were so shocked in that moment that their feet wouldn't move, almost like they had grown roots into the ground. Their breathing stopped, as if holding their own breath would transfer it to Tristan but it didn't.

They all felt the guilt of letting Tristan drown and they all felt horrible for it and the silence only made it worse but they didn't know, they hoped that the silence would take the pain when they should instead be talking about it to ease each other's pain.

After a few hours of walking they started to speak about a few minor things like the weather, the view and how long it's going to take until they'd arrive at the Hopps farm. The latter was the case after 5 hours from Tristan's death.

AS they finally arrived at the Hopps farm the first thing they did was go to the main entrance of the burrow and they were welcomed by Bonnie. None of them knew how she knew that they were coming but they just were happy to be accepted into the burrows.

They all went to the lobby straight to eat and drink and then catch some sleep or just relax. All of them but Nick, he went straight to the second story of the burrow and wandered for something like 30 minutes before he finally found Judy's room.

He gently knocked at the door and waited for an answer. After a few seconds he moved his paw to knock again but just then the door cracked open and a rabbits head poked out.

"Hey there. Who're you?" The male rabbit asked.

"Hey.. uhh I'm Nick. Nicholas Wilde. I've been here a few weeks ago already and just wanted to say hi to Judy since I'm here. Am I disturbing?" Nick had an uneasy feeling about that buck being in Judy's room and only showing his head like he was naked.

The buck turned his head and called for Judy as he opened the door further and, thankfully, revealed that he was clothed.

"Hey, Judy some guy wants to talk to you!" The buck turned to Nick again. "Sorry fella, what's your name again? Mine's Tommy by the way, I'm Judy's brother. We're from the same litter so we're kinda closer to each other than to other siblings" Tommy shrugged as he talked to Nick.

Nick just nodded and was a bit astonished by the rabbit culture. Soon Judy showed herself with red eyes and wet fur underneath them, sniffling and sobbing quietly. As Nick saw her in that state his heart sunk. Judy looked up from the ground as she noticed a pair of black feet.

As her gaze traced up a long, sleek body in a uniform her expression brightened a bit until her gaze met Nick's. Nick rushed over to Judy, went onto his knees and hugged Judy tightly.

"Nick! I-I-I!" She started to stutter but had to take a break to collect her thoughts and think of a sentence that would make sense to a normal mammal.

"Nick I was so worried about you! I never got a letter from you and I thought- I thought you were…." She started to sob horribly at that thought and hugged him even tighter as she couldn't bring herself to say the word.

"Shhhh- take a break Judy. Take it easy. Everything's fine, I'm here now, right in your very arms hugging you as you're hugging me. Nothing gonna happen to us for now, okay?" Nick calmly talked

Judy just buried her face in his chest and clutched to him as if she was afraid that he might just disappear right there on the spot.

"I was so scared that you wouldn't return." She sobbed quietly into his chest as she spoke with a shaky and silent voice "I thought I'd never see you again. I was so afraid."

Nick just hugged her and pet her head and ears with one hand. After some time Tommy left as he noticed that this was something more personal and that Nick probably was the guy she cried about earlier.

Tommy has been there for her, to comfort her with his best efforts and now he finally met the guy that had his sister so worried and he was glad that he was back as it was getting exhausting to tend to Judy every day. Not like he didn't want to do it, it just was making him very tired.

Nick still hugged Judy tightly as a smile crept upon his face

"Oh you bunnies, so emotional. I would never break my promise. Well at least not the one that I made to see you again." Judy softly punched Nick in the chest "Just shut up and enjoy the moment you dumb fox"

Nick exactly picked up on her happier voice and started to chuckle and cuddled Judy a few more minutes until she had assured herself that Nick really was here.

As they moved into the lobby to grab some food and drinks and join Nick's companions Judy couldn't help but notice.

"Hey Nick. Last time you were 7 guys, right? Why only 6 now?" Judy asked though she was afraid that she already knew the answer.

Nick looked down at the ground and sighed deeply before looking into Judy's eyes managing a small smile that was something between genuine and sad.

"You know, Tristan was a nice guy but life had other plans than to let him get old. He….drowned in a river on the way here. A dumb way to die but at least not the dumbest I guess" Nick shrugged sadly and let his head drop before Judy lifted his chin and made his mouth meet hers in a passionate kiss.

"I'm sorry to hear that Nick. Tristan was the raccoon, right? The one that motivated you back then, not?" Judy hugged Nick and rubbed his back a bit to comfort him.

"Yes he was. Well at least he doesn't have to watch any of his friends die now." Nick sniffled shortly and took back a normal stance again as he walked over to a table with Judy at his side.

Just as he sat down Bonnie approached the two with a wide smile and her paws folded into each other in front of her chest. As she came closer she opened her paws and stretched one of them to each to grab a shoulder of Nick and Judy each.

She gently rubbed Nick's shoulder as she had overheard what has happened to Tristan.

"I'm sorry to hear about Tristan, Nick but at least he's at a better place now, right?" Nick shrugged lightly. "I guess so. He deserved his rest for sure." Nick let go of a sad little chuckle.

"You know you two don't have to hide it, you make a really cute pair you two." Bonnie smiled brightly as Nick and Judy both blushed madly.

"Mooooooomm!~" Judy pulled her ears in front of her face to try and hide the blush while Nick awkwardly sat there and stared away from Judy before swallowing and taking back his calm attitude.

"Well Judy if even your mom says so there's no point in trying, eh?" He teased her a bit and nudged Judy with an elbow.

"Oh before I forget it Nick. Someone that looks similar to you came here a few days ago as well. He has the same green eyes but his fur is slightly lighter than yours and he's a bit smaller than you."

Nick stood up in a matter of milliseconds "What?" He looked at Bonnie with a hanging jaw and wide eyes, his ears laid back against his head as he stood at attention.

"Yes. He is in room 354 on the third floor. I forgot his first name but his last name is Wilde, just like yours, Nicholas."

End of chapter 19


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